Larry Achiampong poses in front of his installation at the Westminster Station
A young British-Ghanaian artist is receiving a lot of plaudits for being the first person to have his work mounted at the famous Westminster Station in London since 1908.
Read full articleLarry Achiampong, who has spent most of his life in the United Kingdom after his parents migrated to the country in the 1980s, said not even that geographical distance has detached him from his roots.
It is this same inspiration and inherent spirit that birthed the roundel mounted at the famous station in London.
Speaking with the BBC’s Focus on Africa’s Daniel Dadzie, Larry said he was stupefied knowing he was making history with his artwork at the Westminster Station.
“My mind really exploded because to be the first artist to show … artwork at this station, it’s still only slowly started sinking in,” he said.
The Westminster Station has one of the most iconic logos for the underground train system, a part of London’s transport network, and this has welcomed millions onto the tube and influenced several other transport logos across the world.
Today, through Larry Achiampong’s creation, it has been given an African flavour in this ubiquitous venue.
“My mom would tell me stories as a kid about the likes of Yaa Asantewaa and that I carry with me to this day; I carry it with me to this day with the way that I work and the way that I tell stories now, and the way that I handle stories,” he said.
According to the BBC report, the colours of the roundel represent Ghana’s independence struggle, its mineral resources, as well as its natural environment.
It also has 54 black stars that represent the number of countries on the African continent.
Commissioned by the Art on the Underground Project, Larry has added to his many award-winning works including films, photography, sculptures and paintings.
Larry, whose parents inspired a lot of the things he does today, explained how emotional a moment it was for his mom when she saw his installation being mounted.
“She was literally standing right here and she cried,” he said.
The roundel is the only permanent Pan-African art installation in the TFL underground station in London.
It’s Larry’s hope that his installation will inspire an African artistic revolution at home and across the world.
Image: Matt Writtle, Evening Standard
Profile of Larry Achiampong:
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.
Achiampong recently shot his first feature and most ambitious film to date - Wayfinder. 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.
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).
Recent solo exhibitions include Wayfinder, Turner Contemporary/MK Gallery/BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Margate, Milton Keynes, Gateshead (2022-2023); Relic Traveller: Where You and I Come From, We Know That We Are Not Here Forever, Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montreal (2021); Beyond the Substrata, curated by Norman Rosenthal, Copperfield Gallery at Frieze Focus, 12 Piccadilly Arcade, London (2020); When the Sky Falls, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (2020); Pan African Flag For The Relic Travellers Alliance & Relic Traveller, Phase 1, 019, Ghent (2019); Dividednation, Primary, Nottingham (2019).
Achiampong (b. 1984, UK, British Ghanaian) is a Jarman Award nominated artist (2021). He completed a BA in Mixed Media Fine Art at University of Westminster in 2005 and an MA in Sculpture at The Slade School of Fine Art in 2008. In 2020 Achiampong was awarded the Stanley Picker fellowship and in 2019 received the Paul Hamlyn Artist award in recognition for his practice. He lives and works in London and Essex, and was a tutor on the Photography MA programme at Royal College of Art between 2016 - 2021. Achiampong currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) facilitating art policies in the UK and internationally and also holds a place on the board of trustees for Elephant Trust and is represented by C Ø P P E R F I E L D.