About Panels

John Akomfrah

John Akomfrah is a widely respected artist and filmmaker, whose works are characterised by their investigations into memory, post-colonialism, temporality and aesthetics, and often explore the experiences of migrant diasporas globally. Akomfrah was a founding member of the influential Black Audio Film Collective, which started in London in 1982 alongside artist Lina Gopaul, later joined by David Lawson who he still collaborates with today alongside Ashitey Akomfrah as Smoking Dogs Films. Their debut film, Handsworth Songs (1986), examined the 1985 Birmingham and London riots through a layered mix of archive, stills and new footage, earning international acclaim and defining Akomfrah’s distinctive visual style.

Subsequent works include The Unfinished Conversation (2012), a three-screen portrait of Stuart Hall; Peripeteia (2012), inspired by 16th-century Dürer portraits; and Mnemosyne (2010), which explores migrant experience in the UK. Major later projects include the three-screen Vertigo Sea (2015), linking maritime history, migration and exploitation; Purple and Precarity (both 2017), addressing climate change and the life of jazz musician Buddy Bolden respectively; and Mimesis: African Soldier (2018), commemorating African participants in World War I. Highlights since include Four Nocturnes (2019) at the Venice Biennale, the five-channel films Arcadia and Becoming Wind (both 2023), and Listening All Night to the Rain (2024), presented in the British Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. 

Julianknxx

Julianknxxis a poet, artist and filmmaker.  

The polyphonic nature of Julianknxx’s work is indicative of his expansive practice, which is rooted in poetry but extends into performance, film, music and sculpture. Born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Julianknxx draws on his personal experiences to broaden perspectives on the history and culture of Africa and its diasporas. Inspired by oral history traditions and working with a distinctive aesthetic approach, his films invite us to consider how we construct both local and global narratives, while reflecting on how it feels to exist in liminal spaces. 

His work has been shown at galleries and museums worldwide, with his acclaimed first institutional solo show ‘Chorus In Rememory of Flight’ at the Barbican, London (2023), called ‘transcendent and poignant’ by the Evening Standard. Since then, the installation has travelled across Europe with presentations at Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (CAM), Lisbon (2025), The Model, Ireland (2025), De Singel, Antwerp (2024). Further solo shows include a new installation ‘Shifting / Spirit / Time’ at BURO Stedelijk, Amsterdam (2025). 

Dominique Heyse-Moore

Dominique Heyse-Moore is senior curator of contemporary British art at Tate Britain, overseeing contemporary exhibitions, collection displays and acquisitions. She is currently installing the first major survey of the painter Hurvin Anderson, opening on 26 March. At Anderson's request, the prologue will be Handsworth Songs, John Akomfrah's directorial debut first released 40 years ago in 1986.

She is also co-chair of ActionSpace and contributing art editor of EE72.

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