Of climate, colonialism and loss: 'Four Nocturnes' by John Akomfrah

Alphawood Exhibitions at Wrightwood 659, Chicago, presents Four Nocturnes, an evocative three-channel, HD colour video installation by celebrated British artist and filmmaker Sir John Akomfrah. On view from September 27, 2024 - February 15, 2025, this exhibition delves into the entangled relationship between environmental destruction, colonialism and collective memory. Employing Africa’s dwindling elephant populations as a narrative framework, Four Nocturnes offers a poetic yet unsettling meditation on displacement, climate change and humanity's impact on nature.

Akomfrah, known for his visually stunning and deeply political works, masterfully weaves archival footage with staged imagery, crafting a 52-minute cinematic experience that challenges viewers to confront histories of violence, loss and resilience. Originally commissioned for the Ghana Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, this installation forms part of a trilogy, alongside Vertigo Sea and Purple, which examine global warming as an overwhelming and nearly inevitable force. As the London-based creative states, "I want people to be aware of the ways in which their lives are touched by things unseen and bear witness to these creeping environmental disasters and emergencies."

"In the 52-minute film, Akomfrah […] questions mortality, loss, fragmented identity, mythology and memory through a montage of archival footage and staged scenes surveying the landscape of African cultural heritage," as relayed in the press release.

Beyond Four Nocturnes, the art exhibition also features Toxic Cloud, an installation inspired by Akomfrah's childhood experience growing up near a coal-fired power plant in London. Comprising over 1,000 plastic jugs suspended from the ceiling, Toxic Cloud is a haunting visual representation of air pollution and the often invisible consequences of industrialisation.

Set within the raw concrete interiors of Wrightwood 659 designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando, these works gain an added dimension of immersion and reflection. The juxtaposition of moving imagery and physical installation transforms the exhibition space into an environment that evokes both beauty and devastation, urging visitors to reconsider their relationship with history, nature and human impact.

Akomfrah, a founding member of the influential Black Audio Film Collective, has spent decades exploring themes of migration, post-colonial identity and historical erasure. His works have been featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Britain and the Centre Pompidou, apart from major film festivals worldwide. In 2023, he was knighted for his contributions to the arts, further cementing his role as a leading voice in contemporary visual storytelling.

Through a masterful interplay of film, sound and sculpture, Four Nocturnes at Wrightwood 659, presented by Alphawood Exhibitions (an affiliate of the Alphawood Foundation, a Chicago-based, grant-making private foundation working for an equitable, just and humane society), is an urgent reckoning with the past, present and future. As global crises escalate, Akomfrah's work serves as both a lamentation and a call to action.