“- Never forget about the social, economic, political and geographic struggles.
– Representation matters and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
– Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
– Learn and write about your personal histories. Everyone has a story they want to share – yours might help start a small revolution.” —Tower XYZ manifesto

When artist-filmmaker Ayo Akingbade wrote a manifesto about being a young filmmaker after completing her film Tower XYZ (2016), she wrote it “for the underdog, the unsung, the pissed off and the tired.” It was a call to bring about a new kind of filmmaking that is personal, representative, and that takes into account the socioeconomic realities in which we live. It told aspiring filmmakers to create their own artistic expression, even against the odds of an industry not made for them. At the intersection of documentary, experimental cinema, and personal essay films, the cinema of Ayo Akingbade uses 16mm film, archival footage, and evocative, dreamlike soundscapes to create poetic, politically relevant works that speak to a new underrepresented generation.

The three films in this focus all feature people sharing personal reflections on the many themes that span Akingbade’s films, and work as odes to London’s multicultural identity. In Fire in My Belly (2021), a collective of young people from London discuss the notion of belonging, the meaning of home, and the potential role of community in contrast to established institutions. In Claudette’s Star (2019), made as a commission in response to the work of the UK’s Black Film Workshop movement of the 1980s, young Black artists speak of their artistic influences. In Dear Babylon (2019), the inhabitants of an East London estate speak about their experiences living there, as well as the effects of a fictional parliamentary bill that hints at the rapid gentrification and social change happening in the city. These films have allowed Ayo Akingbade to become a new, authentic filmmaker in Black British cinema, echoing influential works from past generations—including John Akomfrah’s Handsworth Songs, painter Claudette Johnson’s Trilogy, and the activism of Claudia Jones. Her works give voice to communities suffering from a lack of representation or from conservative social legislations. In countering this absence of perspectives, Akingbade speaks to the future with joyful hope and aspiration, celebrating the potential to bring change through creativity.

Fire in My Belly and Dear Babylon are currently showing at the Whitechapel Gallery’s exhibition “A Glittering City: Ayo Akingbade with Duchamp & Sons” in London through 15th August.

Rajiv Kumar Biswas

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