Artist: John Akomfrah

Lisson Gallery presents 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.

In the same way, Canto VI foregrounds the personal histories of key individuals from another, parallel, struggle for liberation: the women’s rights movement. Akomfrah highlights pivotal yet forgotten figures – with their own distinct identities shaped by migration and dispersed communities – who profoundly shaped the cultural development of the gender equality movement.

Alongside this presentation in New York, The Baltimore Museum of Art and the Menil Collection have co-commissioned Akomfrah to create an immersive multi-channel film installation which premiered at the BMA in November 2025 and travels to the Menil from April 2026. John Akomfrah: The Hour Of The Dog explores the history of civil rights-era non-violent protests, including the young activists from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who, in the 1960s, promoted racial equity through marches, protests, and voting registration efforts in the southern United States.