Monday 14 January 2013

John Akomfrah



I saw this installation at the Liverpool Biennial and forgot to write about it when I came back. However I was reminded of it when we had a lecture on the Black Arts movement and the BAFC was talked about where John Akomfrah is one of the founding members.

This piece identified with me due to the use of video and appropriation of archival footage. I really like the use of the 3 screens with different videos running on them as I think it really worked well together. I liked that each time you watch the installation the film you are viewing is different depending on which screens you pay attention to and at which point.

It made me think about my own work and how maybe I could try something with multiple screens like I have mentioned before.

The content of the videos are personal to Akomfrah's life especially the aspects of identity and race. It also looks at the theme of memories and its questionable nature.

'The Unfinished Conversation looks at the theory that identity is not an essence or being but instead a becoming, where individual subjectivities are formed in both real and fictive spaces.'

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