Larry Achiampong: When the Sky Falls

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Unnamed narrators from Achiampong’s newest film, The Expulsion, guide visitors through a London underworld of ‘invisible’ workers who speak of a city bruised from the effects of the national recession  of the early 1990s. The space is further punctuated with objects of the West African diaspora for Medase Me Adamfo, which translates from Twi as ‘Thank you, my friend’, accompanied by the gentle undulations  of new sound work Breath of Asase Yaa, the Ashanti divine mother. Additionally, anthropomorphised vacuum cleaners form a nightmarish troop of guards with rictus smiles for Attack of the Henrys command the space.

Complementing the main exhibition on the Digital Array is Sunday’s Best, a short film that considers  how belief systems within the African diaspora are influenced by colonial histories. Additionally, the gallery’s exterior windows facing Guildhall Square  have been covered by Achiampong’s PAN AFRICAN FLAG FOR THE RELIC TRAVELLERS’ ALLIANCE (MOTION), comprised of the symbolic Pan African colours including 54 black stars relating the nations of the African continent.

When the Sky Falls is a title that speaks of creation myths, folklore and the singsong refrains embedded  in children’s stories. All of which are ways that we (across generations) have tried to make sense of the world and what has in recent moments felt like ‘the end of days’.