The Poetry of Politics: John Akomfrah's Vertigo Sea
Filmmaker and artist John Akomfrah’s debut exhibition with Lisson Gallery fuses together poetic and political imagery in his interrogation of migration, identity and the African diaspora.
Large prints from his films hang around the gallery, depicting a spaceman standing abandoned on the ruins of an old house. Another sees an unfamiliar bearded fellow in a black suit sitting in an office chair in a deserted airport. Already Akomfrah has us asking questions, ‘who are these characters?’ and ‘what narrative are they a part of? ’
Akomfrah is clearly a storyteller; even the still images appear to be bigger than the surface of a simple sketch or an oil painting. All of these details, such as that of the woman who stands bathing in the yellow sunlight coming through a broken window are cinematic, detailed and highly constructed. They are
An exclusive feature for After Nyne 9 - Available now here and at Blackwell's, Oxford
