Larry Achiampong’s debut short documentary film 6:30 + Panel discussion and Q&A

Thursday 21st March 2024, 6-8.30pm | Genesis Cinema, Mile End

6:30 is a short film by the artist Larry Achiampong. Made over lockdown 2021, 6:30 is a subjective meditation on the intersections of national trauma, personal dignity and the professional integrity of NHS workers during a period of crisis. Achiampong worked sensitively to gather highly personal testimony from unnamed hospital staff who worked to keep the hospital building clean during the pandemic. Focussing on the experience of a domestic services worker – an integral role within the NHS. The screening at Genesis is the first time that the film has been viewed with a public audience. The film is accompanied by Achiampong’s earlier works Beyond the Substrata and The Expulsion. Combined, these works offer multiple perspectives of survival and the economic displacement of migrant and working class communities.

The screening is followed by a Q&A with Larry Achiampong, Catsou Roberts, Director of Vital Arts, Barts Health NHS Trust and Achiampong’s long term collaborator Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf.

In 2020 Larry Achiampong was invited by Contemporary Art Society *Consultancy to be the Artist-in-Residence working with the multi-disciplinary design team leading the transformation of Smithfield public realm for the City of London. The residency was created to inform the design of the public spaces ahead of the Museum of London’s move to West Smithfield. The residency centred around a series of online workshops structured by Achiampong, and his collaborator Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf and occurred during a period when public space was closed to most publics. As part of his research of locations and cultural ecologies within the City, Achiampong focused on the stories of night workers of African diaspora heritage. Conversations were had with night workers outside of their working hours to get a sense of their connection to the City. 

As a child, Larry Achiampong frequently accompanied his mother on cleaning jobs in office blocks, crossing the emptied City of London in the early hours of the morning, experiencing the City in a lull before the workers arrived for the day. The artist’s direct experience of being an invisible worker provided insight and empathy, centering those often made invisible through their work. 

With the support of the City of London, Achiampong filmed unobtrusively in a working hospital during the pandemic. Adhering strictly to hospital protocols and working in liminal spaces such as corridors and unoccupied rooms so that patient and staff safety and confidentiality could be maintained. The footage and audio gathered from the building formed the basis of the film along with audio.

Please click here to book tickets to the screening of 6:30.

Director

Larry Achiampong

Producer

Larry Achiampong/Look Mama! Productions and Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf