Join artist Larry Achiampong in conversation over Zoom with the University of Southampton’s Dr Nisreen Alwan and Dr Priti Mishra, as they discuss Achiampong’s new film Reliquary 2.
Reliquary 2 has been especially commissioned for John Hansard Gallery’s new digital programme. The film is a meditation on a period of separation between Larry Achiampong and his children, where the artist observes his own familial narrative within the pandemic and the trauma of forced isolation during unprecedented times.
Speaking directly to his children, Reliquary 2 is an archive of contemplative prose and a historical record during what has been a surreal and challenging period for many. The film features animation by Wumi Olaosebikan and is a continuation of the Relic Traveller series (2017), a multi-site and multidisciplinary speculative project that builds upon a postcolonial perspective informed by technology, agency and the body, and narratives of migration. Mixing the visual poetry with generational healing, the series explores past, present and future, through narratives of Pan Africanism and African diasporic identity in relation to colonialism, postcolonialism and the heightened nationalism of current times.
This event is connected to John Hansard Gallery’s online exhibitions programme, supported by the Barker-Mill Foundation.
About the speakers:
Dr Nisreen Alwan is an Associate Professor in Public Health at the University of Southampton and an Honorary Consultant in Public Health at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.
Dr Priti Mishra is Associate Professor in History at the University of Southampton, working on cultural and intellectual history of India from 1800 to the present.