John Akomfrah: The Hour Of The Dog

Sir John Akomfrah's The Hour Of The Dog is on view at The Menil Collection through October 11, 2026. It's a six-channel video and sound installation that runs 51 minutes, and it's a co-commission between the Menil and the Baltimore Museum of Art, where it's also showing through February 1.

The piece looks at youth-led Civil Rights activism in the American South from 1954 to 1963. Akomfrah weaves together documentary footage, oral histories, newsreels, and archival photography, and mixes them with newly filmed cinematic shots and a soundscape of protest songs and chants. The title comes from the Chinese zodiac, where the hour of twilight stands as a metaphor for vigilance and transition—a nod to how the movement itself depended on a cultural shift.

Akomfrah is a Ghanaian-born British artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member of the Black Audio Film Collective from 1982 to 1998 and continues his work with Smoking Dogs Films. His pieces repeatedly investigate memory, post-colonialism, and migrant diasporas. He received the Artes Mundi Prize in 2017 and a knighthood in the 2023 New Year Honours.

The installation is in the main building of The Menil Collection, which opened in 1987 and welcomes visitors free of charge. The Hour Of The Dog has been there since April 24, so you've got until October 11 to catch it.