Larry Achiampong and David Blandy: Finding Fanon, in-conversation with Rizvana Bradley

Larry Achiampong and David Blandy will be in-conversation with Rizvana Bradley and will present their film series Finding Fanon, inspired by the lost plays of Frantz Fanon (1925-1961), a radical humanist whose practice dealt with the psychopathology of colonisation and the social and cultural consequences of decolonisation. Through the films, the artists negotiate Fanon’s ideas, examining the politics of race, racism and the post-colonial, and how these societal issues affect their own relationship to one another.

In Finding Fanon 1 their conflict is played out through a script that melds found texts and personal testimony, transposing their drama to a junkyard houseboat at an unspecified time in the future. Navigating the past, present and future, Achiampong and Blandy question the promise of globalisation, recognising its impact on their own heritage.

Finding Fanon 2 collides art-house cinema with digital culture’s Machinima, resulting in a work that explores the post-colonial condition from inside a simulated environment – the Grand Theft Auto 5 in-game video editor. It combines several stories, including how the artists’ familial histories relate to colonial history, an examination of how their relationship is formed through the virtual space, and thoughts on the implications of the post-human condition.

The artists will be joined in conversation by Network 11, a peer network of artists working on questions regarding the positions of British based artists of colour and LGBT communities in the art world.