Exhibition

Akeem Smith, One last cry

Akeem Smith

One last cry

Exhibition

from 18 Oct to 20 Nov 2023
Akeem Smith's exhibition, One last cry, is an assemblage of memories. The artist has compiled a collection of artefacts, including VHS tapes, rare photos and clothing, from various Afro-Caribbean social scenes connected to Dancehall, a musical movement born in Jamaica in the late ‘70s. Smith revisits these objects to offer them new life, and to preserve what once was.

Sculptor and video artist, Akeem Smith grew up in the Waterhouse area of Kingston, Jamaica.

His work seeks to erase the distinctions between art, fashion and anthropology, thereby challenging the standards of Western cultural iconography.

He is interested in the economics of image production in its political, social and commercial forms, and the role of the artist as archivist. For the past decade, Akeem Smith has been collecting a growing archive of photographs and VHS videos that document dancehall culture from the 1980s to the 2000s. His recent work celebrates this popular Jamaican movement, largely absent from institutional archives.

Following a residency at the foundation, Akeem Smith presents his exhibition One Last Cry at Lafayette Anticipations in 2023.

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