Actions. The image of the world can be different (part 2)

John Akomfrah is an artist and filmmaker who is known for his rich, deeply moving films that interrogate issues around migration, identity, colonialism and collective memory. Auto Da Fé (2016), which translates as Acts of Faith, is a feature-length film presented as a diptych in the second part of Actions. It charts eight migratory episodes across the last four centuries, from the flight of Sephardic Jews from Brazil to Barbados in 1654 right up to the most recent and ongoing movement of people from Mosul in Iraq, reaffirming humanity’s continuing struggle with inequality and intolerance, and the individual instinct for survival.

In 2017, John Akomfrah was chosen from a shortlist of 6 of the world’s most important artists to win the UK’s leading prize for international contemporary art, Artes Mundi 7 with Auto Da Fé. 

Karen Mackinnon, Artes Mundi Director said: “The Artes Mundi 7 Prize was awarded for Akomfrah’s presentation of Auto Da Fé and for a substantial body of outstanding work dealing with issues of migration, racism and religious persecution. To speak of these things in this particular moment feels more important than ever.”