JOHN AKOMFRAH: THE UNFINISHED CONVERSATION 2012

In a visit to the Tate Modern I had the good fortune to experience The Unfinished Conversation 2012 is a three-screen installation by British artist, filmmaker and writer John Akomfrah. The piece explores the multi-layered and evolving subject of cultural identity and investigates how this identity can be seen as a product of history and memory rather than something fixed.

The installation is based on the personal archive of the influential and acclaimed cultural theorist Stuart Hall (1932–2014), who described identity and ethnicity as being the subject of an "ever-unfinished conversation". Unfolding over three screens, Akomfrah’s film shows Hall talking about his discovery of a personal and political identity. Identifying with Hall, Akomfrah said: "To hear Stuart Hall speak about what it is to be different in society … gave you a sense not simply of self, but of agency, of what you could do with your life."

It start with Halls early years in Jamaica before arriving in Britain as a student in 1951. It then follows Hall through to 1968 Hall when he became one of the founding figures of the new left political movement, a key architect of cultural studies and one of Britain’s foremost public intellectuals.

Akomfrah uses a wide range and variety of material alongside archival footage of Hall, interweaving his biography with historical events, readings and music. These include references to artists and writers such as William Blake, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf and Mervyn Peake, as well as jazz and gospel music, and news footage from the 1960s and 1970s. This creates a rich tapestry that are all expertly interwoven across the three screens seamlessly showing the randomness of building ones identity when jazz footage and music appears next to archive footage boats arriving from Jamaica. The two complement each other but are at the same time juxtaposed but linked in that they are both very important aspects and influences of Halls life and the music and voice over is the glue that holds all of this together. This captures the essence that the central character is not just one thing but also a tapestry of connections, overlaps and that "identities are formed at he intersections of the political and the personal".

The presentation and use of three screens enhances this as it creates this multi-faceted approach in that one thing cannot define a character and halls own ideas of identity being not fixed but a product of a varied history and memories. The screens are all embraced by the same soundtrack and voice over not individual ones and this binds them together. The images are generally archive footage that whilst all obviously compete are never individually so invigorating that you feel you are missing out and allow the eye to meander and the viewer to form their own documentary. It examines the nature of the visual as triggered across an individual’s memory landscape. With particular reference to identity and race, the film presents Hall’s memories and personal archives, extracted and relocated in an imagined and different time to reflect on the questionable nature of memory itself. This is obviously the meaning of the title "The Unfinished Conversation" in as much as the work can continually be re-interpreted, and read by the viewer and no two viewings would be the same.

I was unfamiliar with John Akomfrah's work and will now certainly seek out some more of it to look at as it does deal with similar pieces to mine and dissemination wise I found it eye opening to ideas I have been wrestling with.

The following points are all aspects that I feel worked well on the installation and could be implemented in my own work. In particular I have struggled to find the right use for using multiple screens and having images run concurrently and the Unfinished Conversation manages to achieve this balance. Like my own work though a lot of the footage is archive and appropriated.

• Three screens worked excellently together and the setting up of them one straight on the other two angled allowed the audience to experience them all fully and immerse them. It perfectly captures the essence that the central character is not just one thing but also a tapestry of connections, overlaps and that "identities are formed at he intersections of the political and the personal".
• Excellently sourced archive footage and a huge variety of sources, types and all of it relevant to the story being.
• The footage complemented each other well and never "fought" to be noticed as they were all balanced. Your eye could be drawn to whatever was of interest to you and you did not feel you missed anything.
• The audio was excellent and provided the voice over/narration as well as the important use of music were the glue that help the installation together.

John Akomfrah on The Unfinished Conversation from Tether on Vimeo.

Notes on John Akomfrah: From http://autograph-abp.co.uk/ 

"As a co-founding member of the Black Audio Film Collective (1982), John Akomfrah achieved critical success in 1986 with his debut film documentary, Handsworth Songs. Through his celebrated technique of juxtaposing and layering archive footage with new and historical photo stills, soundscapes, personal testimonies and text, Akomfrah investigates and unpacks the complexities of identity through his practice. Previous films include: The Nine Muses (2010), Mnemosyne (2009), Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993) and Handsworth Songs (1986). Akomfrah is now recognised as one of Britain’s most pioneering and intellectually rewarding film-makers."