John Akomfrah (b.1957) is a Ghanaian-born British artist, filmmaker, and writer whose works are characterized by their investigation into memory, colonial history, and aesthetics. They engage with Black popular and political culture in Britain, and with the experiences of Black diasporas globally. Akomfrah was a founding member of the influential Black Audio Film Collective (1982-1998), alongside his long-time producing partners David Lawson and Lina Gopaul with whom he still collaborates as Smoking Dogs Films. Their first film, Handsworth Songs (1986), explored events surrounding the 1985 riots in Birmingham and London through a charged combination of archive footage, still photos, newly shot material, and newsreel. The film won several international prizes and established the signature multi-flayered filmic style that has become a recognizable motif of Akomfrah’s practice.