Larry Achiampong's Wayfinder is an epic film about class and economic exclusion, belonging and displacement, cultural heritage and the meaning of home.
Following the screening of Wayfinder (83mins) we'll be joined by Larry Achiampong for a post-screening Q&A, led by artist and filmmaker Hetain Patel.
More screenings of Wayfinder (without a post-screening Q&A) are taking place at Broadway on Tues 12 & Wed 13 July. See broadway.org.uk for details.
About the film
Set during a pandemic, the film tracks the movements of its central protagonist - The Wanderer, a young girl (played by Perside Rodrigues), on an intrepid journey across England.
Travelling from North to South, The Wanderer passes through different regions, towns and landscapes, encountering people, stories and situations on her way.
Presented across six chapters, including ‘The North’, ‘The Land of Smoke’ and ‘The Kingdom of the East’, this epic film builds a dialogue around the themes of class and economic exclusion, belonging and displacement, cultural heritage and the meaning of home.
With the film set during an unknown point in the not-too-distant-future during a discursive moment in time. The Wanderer acts as a witness to accounts, conversations, places and histories - both known and dormant.
Setting out from Bowness-on-Solway, a village that separates England from Scotland, the film follows the Wanderer’s journey across the ancient paths of Hadrian’s Wall and other significant environments thereafter. From Hemmingwell housing estate in Wellingborough to the National Gallery deserted at night, through the international port London Gateway (in Essex), eventually reaching the sea at Margate.
A road movie of sorts, Wayfinder draws on British traditions of travel and exploration of the sublime landscape and the sea - reflecting on division and crisis in this nation today. Addressing an unreconciled history of empire and inequality, it asks: who is allowed to feel that they belong?
The film combines sweeping shots with poetic voice-over narratives, melded with real ‘vox pop’ testimonies, field recordings and an original orchestral score composed by Achiampong.
The film’s cast includes former athlete Anita Neil OLY, who is Britain’s first Black female Olympian, Musician and Artist Mataio Austin Dean (who plays The Griot), and a trippy dialogue-driven scene (set within East London Café E. Pellicci in Bethnal Green) portrayed by Maa Afua and Russell Tovey among others.
Still from Wayfinder (2022), by Larry Achiampong
About the artist
Larry Achiampong’s solo and collaborative projects employ film, still imagery, aural and visual archives, live performance, objects and sound to explore ideas surrounding class, gender, cross-cultural and post-digital identity.
With works that examine his communal and personal heritage – in particular, the intersection between Popular culture and the post-colonial position, Achiampong crate-digs the vaults of history. These investigations examine constructions of ‘the self’ by splicing the audible and visual materials of personal and interpersonal archives, offering multiple perspectives that reveal the deeply entrenched inequalities in contemporary society.
Recent projects include commissions with The Line, London; The Liverpool Biennial 2021 and Art on the Underground, Roundel designs and a permanent sculptural intervention for Transport for London’s Westminster Underground Station, London (2019 and 2022).