Larry Achiampong's 'When the Sky Falls' at John Hansard Gallery explores diasporic identity through film and flags.

Larry Achiampong's exhibition titled 'When the Sky Falls' was showcased at the John Hansard Gallery in Southampton from January 25 to March 21, 2020. The display included video pieces addressing themes of race, the African diaspora, and historical identity, featuring the 2018 work PAN AFRICAN FLAG FOR THE RELIC TRAVELLERS' ALLIANCE (MOTION). This piece ties into Achiampong's ongoing Relic film series (2017–), which imagines a unified Africa gathering oral histories. Works like Sunday's Best (2016) juxtapose European religious symbols with Ashanti traditions, while The Expulsion (2019) sheds light on modern inequality through the lens of a black woman's cleaning jobs in 1990s London. The installation incorporated office chairs and 'Henry' vacuum cleaners, critiquing institutions and alluding to the 1975 documentary The Nightcleaners. ArtReview featured a review of the exhibition in March 2020.