Great Britain 2024

Akomfrah’s boldest and most ambitious commission to date, Listening All Night To the Rain, draws its title from 11th century Chinese writer and artist Su Dongpo’s poetry, which explores the transitory nature of life during a period of political exile. Organised into a series of song-like movements or ‘cantos’, the exhibition, curated by Tarini Malik, brings together eight interlocking and overlapping multimedia and sound installations into a single and immersive environment that tell stories of migrant diasporas in Britain. The exhibition is the result of decades of extensive research by the artist and his team, using historical records to contextualise our experience of the present day.

The exhibition begins on the exterior of the British Pavilion’s 19th century neoclassical building, with a large three-screen film installation suspended onto its façade. This artistic intervention brings imagery and voices from the Global South to the forefront, honouring those who have been marginalised by the legacies of imperialism.

Inside the Pavilion, film screens embedded within sculptural installations are inspired by the structure and form of altarpieces from religious sites, evoking a sense of contemplation and reverie. Each gallery space layers together a specific colour field, influenced by the paintings of American artist Mark Rothko, in order to highlight the ways in which abstraction can represent the fundamental nature of human drama.

Listening All Night To The Rain weaves together newly filmed material, archive video footage and still images, with audio and text from international archives and libraries. The exhibition tells global stories through the ‘memories’ of people who represent migrant communities in Britain and examines how multiple geopolitical narratives are reflected in the experiences of diasporic people more broadly.

Testament to the artist’s long-standing motivations in addressing landmark moments in British history through a critical lens, the exhibition platforms narratives, including those belonging to the Windrush generation, and pays respect to the breadth of black British identity. Shedding light on the discrimination that migrants in Britain faced during the post- industrial decline of the country from the late 1960s onwards, a central figure in the work is the life and death of British-Nigerian David Oluwale, who tragically drowned in the River Aire, Yorkshire after being brutalised by local policemen. Yorkshire, along with the Scottish Highlands, are pivotal locations throughout the work and act as mythical homes for the various characters whose memories we witness.

Bodies of water are a central motif throughout Listening All Night To The Rain and form the connective tissue between the visual and sonic narratives. Referencing the work of French immunologist Jacques Benveniste, Akomfrah considers water a reservoir for memory: a site where narratives from the past, present and future are held. In theatrically staged tableaux and archival footage, water moves in waves to represent fluctuations in time and the movement of people from one place to another, mirroring the experience of migrants across vast expanses of water. Water is also used to evoke the experience of diasporic communities directly impacted by climate catastrophes and rising sea levels. Images from Bangladesh’s devastating flooding from the 1980s onwards permeate the work, depicting how the country is on the frontline of a climate emergency generated by pollution and the extraction of natural resources; a legacy of colonial powers. Illustrating the connection between military conflicts and ecological devastation, Listening All Night To The Rain reveals the inalterable impact on the natural environment.

To further highlight the enduring legacies of colonialism, the exhibition captures pivotal moments in the history of independence movements and rebellions that swept across Africa and Asia from the 1940s-70s. Archival imagery delves into the Mau Mau uprisings in Kenya (1952-1960) and the brutalities of the British counter-insurgency campaign. In the Congo, Akomfrah portrays the struggle for independence from Belgian colonialism and in Nigeria, archival material reveals the 1960s Civil War and the tragic consequences of colonial land amalgamation. Meanwhile, Akomfrah captures the devastation of the Indian Partition in 1947, shedding light on emblematic figures such as Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, and the implementation of his five-year plan to recover India from the deprivation caused by the British occupation.

Listening All Night To The Rain positions various theories of acoustemology: the study of how the sonic experience mirrors and shapes our cultural realities. Akomfrah draws on an acute acoustic sensitivity influenced by a variety of formative experiences, from protests to club culture in 1970s-80s London. Each of Akomfrah’s ‘cantos’ is accompanied by a specific soundtrack, which layers archival material with field recordings, speeches and popular and devotional music. Extending the sense of hybridity in the filmic collages, Akomfrah’s use of sound encourages us to consider the breadth of cultural identity in Britain more broadly.