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This autumn, Larry Achiampong will present his new film Relic 4 (2026) at KARST, revisiting the cinematic universe of the Relic Traveller project after a six-year hiatus. Exploring themes of fallen empire, class, and displacement, this ongoing film series interrogates the architectures and residues of colonialism.
Achiampong poses fundamental questions:
What and who is shaping history?
Whose traces are deemed worthy of preservation, and why?
The filmic universe takes place in an alternate reality in which the Pan African Union uses a time-travelling technology called 'Sanko Time' to retrieve testimonies from people collectively oppressed throughout history by colonisation, capitalism, and globalisation. Following the Voyagers’ process of retrieval across desolate landscapes, the series gathers the voices of communal memory, transpiring as an emotional journey of both grief and healing, while revealing renewed optimism for a self-determined future.
Relic 4 marks the beginning of a new phase in the project. The story revisits the original Voyager featured in Relic 1 (2017), portrayed by Achiampong’s son, Sinai Lee Achiampong. In this new film, the Voyager continues their time-travelling journey, navigating physical and mental barriers and borders. Places of historical significance weigh heavily as symbols of imperial pasts; these include Tilbury Fort and the Port of Tilbury, both of which serve as backdrops to the violent expansion of the British Empire. Originally built in the 16th century to defend London from seaborne attacks, Tilbury Fort was where Queen Elizabeth I delivered her famous speech under the threat of the Spanish Armada. Later, Tilbury Docks received the Empire Windrush and its 800 passengers from across the Caribbean, invited to Britain to fortify struggling post-war public services and industry. Often described as the ‘edge of the world’, Tilbury remains an enduringly poignant symbol of migration: a door to the unknown for those both leaving and arriving.
As part of the exhibition at KARST, Achiampong will also introduce an ongoing series of current and new Pan African flags. Created across several years, with the first shown at Somerset House in 2017, each flag is designed to represent African diasporic identity. The colours green, black, and red reflect the Union's land, its people, and the struggles the continent has endured, while the field of gold stands as a symbolic proclamation of prosperity. These works do not centre Afrofuturism as a utopian vision of the continent but aim to (re)examine the global shift of power dynamics of this speculative future, its relationship with the buried tremors of history as a basis for Africans and the African diaspora to lead from a bottom-up perspective.
Both anticipating and responding to the present moment, Relic 4 examines the now decade-long legacy of Brexit and its impactful rhetoric, feeding into present-day apprehensions and thoughts of tentative futures. Reigniting the Relic Traveller universe, this powerful chapter takes the ongoing saga into an exciting new direction.
The following artwork captured in Relic 4 is featured with permission:
‘Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories’ (Audio-Visual Site-Specific Art Installation, 2020)
Directed and Created By EVEWRIGHT
Produced By Ionie Richards
© EVEWRIGHT / Evewright Arts Foundation. All Rights Reserved 2026.
www.evewright.com / @evewrightstudio
www.evewrightarts.org / @evewrightarts
www.ionierichards.com / @Ionie_richards
Relic 4 Was Supported By British Council and KARST.
Reel Photos by Reece Straw
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