Through the thread of Africa’s declining elephant population, John Akomfrah’s 2019 film, Four Nocturnes examines posthumanism through the lens of colonialism, memory, transformation, time and more. This work is a three-screen, 52 minute long video; initially commissioned for the 58th Venice Biennale for the inaugural Ghanaian pavilion.  

Akomfrah’s identity as a Ghanaian refugee is present throughout his work which centers around the narratives born out of the African landscape, connecting the concepts of mortality, humanity, memory, and duality. In 2020, Akomfrah and other Black filmmakers in the Otolith Group decided to decenter the human from their work. Akromfrah states he is interested in forces and voices outside the human; he says when you begin paying attention to elements outside human, “something else starts to happen.” (1) The human is integral to the story, but they are not the beginning or the end, and certainly not the center; this lends to posthumanism within Four Nocturnes. 

Humanism upholds human beings above all, specifically their right to explore the world. (2) Posthumanism asserts that this ideology has reached its end; humans are not inherently knowable, nor is it their right to explore the universe at any cost. Akomfrah’s work aligns with posthumanism’s central idea that human and nonhuman are incredibly interlinked. (3) The video, its themes and mechanisms can be further analyzed through this lens to think about how posthumanism is represented through art, specifically within a postcolonial context and non-western lens. 

Posthumanism’s ideas are situated within the context of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is an “unofficial unit of geologic time,” used to define the current period of Earth’s history, a time where human activity has had serious, consequential impacts on the planet. (4) It’s the first unit of time that is entirely defined by humans. In the context of Four Nocturnes, we see these effects and connections illustrated. It is integral to think of the film not only in the context of the Anthropocene and Posthumanism, but also as an exploration  of how these concepts look in real life. 

Four Nocturnes connects the narratives of human and nonhuman, revealing subjugation under the guise of production and exploration. The people present in the photos Akomfrah utilizes are the Hereo people; victims of the first 20th century genocide. (5) The narratives of  political turmoil, technological advancements, and non-humans are all tied together. In its three-channel format, the film displays the African landscape and cultural heritage; Akomfrah plays with temporality to create something haunting, where all time is amalgamated.  

The form of this work allows for conversations to be born out of Four Nocturnes. There is past and present, seen in his use of archival images  There are visual contrasts in colors, between black and white archival photos, placed in vivid nature scenes; also in bright landscapes of blues and greens and the arid desert. There is moving and still, in the images and the videos, in the constantly working elephants and the still overseers and poachers. Akomfrah spatially bridges what might have appeared as isolated histories before. 

As Akomfrah engages with the ideas of posthumanism, the line between human and nonhuman delineates. The parallels between human and non-human are illuminated in the concurring narratives of the three screens. In one scene, a herd of elephants discover an elephant who has passed away, as they try to wake them up and bring them back, the moment of their discovery feels real and emotional; other screens show human emotion at the same time, emotions of loss, pain, and struggle. The two are positioned against each other in recognition. 

As we think about the balance between the different narratives of the elephants’ lives and human lives,  Is the idea of the human and nonhuman as equals a jarring concept? To think that the life of an animal is as significant, or impactful, as your own? 

Four Nocturnes presents its viewers with the connected narratives of  humans and elephants – their histories looking more similar than some might acknowledge. Living beings are connected through the land they live on and humans and nonhumans alike are coping with the weight of their own history. 

Nonhumans can feel the effect of the past just as us, it has been shown that African elephants feel the effects of their mass killings. Culling is the selected killing of animal’s kin by poachers, this killing is meant to disrupt the social order of the animals. While for decades previous, animals might have existed normally, culling can have them scrambled. Elephant herds that have gone through culling show the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Thirty years post culling, these animals are still affected. There are long term effects of human actions on the land that have yet to be truly seen.  

As Akomfrah delves into the parallel histories of elephants and humans in Africa, he draws the throughlines of colonialism and postcolonialism with memory and loss. He does so relentlessly, Four Nocturnes length and format, demand constant attention and introspection. The viewer must watch clip after clip, connecting one to the last, but not dwelling too much as they might miss the next one; over a hundred years of history and thoughts of the future, crammed in 52 minutes – emphasizing the importance, the direness of it all. 

Akomfrah states that the elephant is often looked over, their work diminished, when in reality they are doing the brunt of the work. (6) They are a force of change and power, through which humans have subjugated them and others; they are a representation of the necessary relationship of humans with non-humans and the land – they are just as integral to our narrative as other humans, Akomfrah treats them as such. 

Four Nocturnes is a meditation on time, humanity, distance, land, migration, and more. Four Nocturnes is a way to revel in the ideas of posthumanism and postcolonialism, while situating those same ideas within humanism and colonialism – whose long-lasting effects we have not seen the end of. Having watched the film you might be left with more questions. How do we all benefit from the humanist ideals of the past? How else can we decenter humans? Can the human and the non-human ever be separated? How do we move forward? 

If you have not seen the film yet, or are viewing it again, think about this new context in conversation with the format. Why did Akomfrah choose this format, how does it affect your experience? How does it make you feel? 

Bibliography

1. Akomfrah, John. 2020. “John Akomfrah and the Otolith Group Discuss Post-Cinematic Blackness.” Frieze, no. 214 (October), 64-71. 
2. Humanists International. 1996. “IHEU Minimum Statement on Humanism,” General Assembly. https://humanists.international/policy/iheu-minimum-statement-on-humanism/. 
3. Buchanan, Ian. 2010. A Dictionary of Critical Theory. Edited by Ian Buchanan. N.p.: Oxford University Press. 
4. Adams, Tim. 2024. “‘Another layer of pigment needed adding to the canvas’: artist John Akomfrah on changing the narrative, from Windrush to colonialism.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/apr/07/artist-john-akomfrah-venice-biennale-listening-all-night-to-the-rain-interview#:~:text=In%201966%2C%20when%20the%20CIA,US%20and%20then%20to%20London. 
5. “Anthropocene.” 2023. National Geographic Education. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/anthropocene/. 
6. Ng, Clara. 2019. “The 20th Century’s First Genocide: Not the Holocaust, but the Herero.” Post Conflict Research Center. https://p-crc.org/2019/04/06/not-the-holocaust-but-the-herero/. 
7. Peterson, Vanessa. 2023. “How John Akomfrah’s Videos Tell a Story of Migration and Belonging.” Aperture. https://aperture.org/editorial/how-john-akomfrahs-videos-tell-a-story-of-migration-and-belonging/.