Documenting Change - Khali Ackford

Khali Ackford

ON June 7th, Bristol photographer Khali Ackford set out with thousands of protesters into the heart of Bristol.

The day became a significant one. One which put Bristol at the heart of the global conversation about race and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The statue of Edward Colston, a merchant and slave owner, who was credited with funding much over Bristol’s development in the 16th and 17th centuries, was toppled and thrown into the city harbour. The US soon followed Bristol’s lead and started removing statues to Confederate leaders and slave owners.

The event started with a series of talks on College Green, where Khali captured Solomon OB’s impassioned speech.

“That emotional beginning was incredible and moving,” said Khali.

“The actual march at the beginning was very calm. We walked down to the fountains and Colston. It was a great atmosphere, looking around you could so many people of different ethnicities and colour.

“Being locked away for so long during lockdown and not seeing friends and family and then suddenly being in a crowd of thousands of people chanting and moving for the same thing – it was so emotional.

“Then we heard this epic roar from the distance, it was like a Mexican wave of happiness. It came and hit us and I thought something’s going on, I need to go. So I ran. Unfortunately, I missed Colston coming down but you could feel that energy.

“I ran down and obviously just started photographing the sh*t out of it. That’s when the atmosphere really became strong.

“My mum had been petitioning this for so long and it’s been denied and denied.

“The only way this was going to happen was if the community did it themselves – and they did.”

Khali’s images from that day were shared across social media around the world. The black and white textured edit gave the images a timeless feel and he has subsequently sold many as prints, in aid of the Black Live Matter movement. A number have also been displayed around Bristol.

Khali’s mother beside his photograph on display in Bristol city centre.

The son of a Jamaican mother and a Welsh father, Khali has experienced his own issues of identity growing up and is now working on a number of projects on this very subject.

“I’ve never had a sense of belonging to either of my heritages,” he says.

“I always felt too black for the white side of my family and too white for the black side of my family.”

Khali is now working with the Gloucester based artist Rider Shafique on a project exploring the issue of identity in the mixed-race community.

We at Tarsier Creative shot an initial discussion between the two which will be released in the near future.

In the meantime you can check out Khali’s work by CLICKING HERE.