Akomfrah’s short film takes as its starting point two drawings by the sixteenth-century artist Albrecht Dürer. The portraits are among the earliest Western representations of black people. Akomfrah uses these early black Europeans – their very existence, which is described by the film as being “lost to the winds of history” – to confront the heart of the strange temporality lived by Europeans of colour. John Akomfrah, visual artist, film-maker and laureate of the 2012 Princess Magriet Award of the European Cultural Foundation, has been working with themes of race and representation in film throughout his career.
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