Wayfinder

Multi Disciplinary Project, 2021 - 2023

In the spring of 2022 Turner Contemporary presented Wayfinder, the artists first major UK exhibition. This exhibition further toured to MK Gallery, Milton Keynes and BALTIC, Gateshead.

The exhibition included the feature-length film Wayfinder, which follows a young girl’s journey across England. The film was shown within a sculptural installation Gods Country comprising a giant map of the UK divided up into parts. The map can be sat on and explored by visitors, echoing the cinematic journey of the Wanderer and the themes of the film.

Alongside the film was a presentation of the Relic Traveller project, a multi-disciplinary work that envisages a pan-African alliance of travellers who explore landscapes of the near future, collecting testimonies of those who have been historically oppressed by colonialism, capitalism and globalisation. The installation included all five Relic films, Relic flags and a new series of life-size Relic Traveller figures (The Relic Travellers’ Alliance: Assembly 1 & 2, 2021).

A selection of other works in the show included the photographic collage series Glyth and the Detention chalkboards. The Glyths reimagine family photos by replacing the faces of each black person with cubist-like circles and red lips, referencing experiences of racism growing up in East London, the Robertson’s Golliwog mascot still in circulation until 2002, and the Guy Fawkes mask from Alan Moore’s comic V For Vendetta.  The chalk boards are a continuation of text based 'lines' emulating the opening sequence of The Simpsons featuring statements and vox pops, the pointed and repeated lines speak of white privilege, cultural appropriation and the complexity of representing political movements like Black Lives Matter.

In each location, a Gaming Room was designed and created with carefully selected games which emulated the idea of travel through landscapes, as an example of the themes explored in Wayfinder. 

Specific to the Turner Contemporary site, Achiampong also curated a display of paintings by JMW Turner. A selection of oil paintings, watercolours, engravings and sketchbooks, predominantly from Turner’s British tours which featured some of the locations in Wayfinder.

© Photos by Reece Straw

Wayfinder Exhibition, commissioned by Turner Contemporary with MK Gallery and Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art