John Akomfrah

Lisson Gallery is pleased to announce the U.S. premiere of Listening All Night To The Rain, the critically acclaimed work by John Akomfrah, originally presented at the British Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. Akomfrah brings a focused iteration to New York, debuting the central multi-channel film, Canto VI, which traces pivotal moments in the histories of colonised nations, focusing on the independence movements and uprisings that swept Africa and Asia from the 1940s to the 1970s. Described as “utterly captivating” by The Guardian, Listening All Night To The Rain weaves together questions of ecology, empire, and migration through a layered sonic lens. In Canto VI, Akomfrah frames these histories – the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya, Congo’s struggle for independence from Belgian colonialism, Nigeria’s path to independence and the Partition of India – through the diasporic experience in Britain, connecting personal memory to the wider, enduring legacies of colonialism.