Under the Influence: John Akomfrah – Artforum

25 March 2026

In this episode of Under the Influence, artist, filmmaker, and writer John Akomfrah discusses the iconic artworks he most admires, including Andrea Mantegna’s The Lamentation of Christ and J. M. W. Turner’s The Slave Ship; reveals that he considers music to be his greatest teacher, citing Bob Dylan and Ornette Coleman; and remembers how the 1999 exhibition “Sensation” at the Brooklyn Museum showed him that “art still has the power to shock.”

Artforum: What advice would you give to an aspiring artist?

Akomfrah: Make a bunch of mistakes. Find out as many rules that you're supposed to adhere to and just go against them. I mean willfully, without reason, pathologically just go against them, just fall off the edge, make mistakes ... it's kind of how the new comes into being. New things don't line up in attendance with the old. They find a way of circumventing them, you know? So yeah, make mistakes. Mistakes offer you insights more than anything ever would. And, you know, just be kind ... it is perfectly possible to be a human being and an artist. These two things are not mutually exclusive. But making mistakes should be your province. That should be the number one thing.

John Akomfrah: Listening All Night To The Rain is on view at Lisson Gallery New York through April 25, 2026.

Watch the full video via Artforum.