John Akomfrah: Listening All Night To The Rain

'Listening All Night To The Rain' by British artist Sir John Akomfrah is a series of multi-channel video installations.

It was commissioned for the British Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024.The title is drawn from the poetry of Chinese writer Su Dongpo (1037 – 1101) written during a period of political exile.

The work explores diasporic experiences in Britain, reflecting on pivotal moments in colonial and post-colonial history relating to memory, migration, racial injustice and climate change.

It weaves together newly filmed material with archival imagery, audio clips and video footage from across the world.Akomfrah’s signature cinematic style creates critical and poetic connections across different places and times to encourage acts of listening and looking again, as forms of activism.

His work explores how sound can shape and influence cultural realities.

By layering fragments of audio materials such as political speeches, popular music and nature, he investigates how sound operates as a shared cultural experience, globally uniting us in relation to one another.Water is also a central motif.

Like sound, it moves in waves, echoing the dispersal of diaspora communities.

It forms the connective tissue that holds the visual and sonic narratives together, exploring how the experience can shape our understanding of the world.