DISTANT HOMELAND

a poem thinking about existence, identity, assimilation and belonging. exploring the notion of ‘the African diaspora’ from the perspective of disconnect. both now and increasingly over time. written, filmed (bar footage of myself), produced and performed by me. what I found throughout the process of shooting for this poem is that symbolism is all around. these shots are from parts of south and east london. the mundane.. the things we walk past everyday. all of these shots helped to depict my ideas in some way, and the archive footage from @kinolibrary provided that connection to the past. I wanted to capture the grittiness of london in a way that shows how unhomely it can be.. an in-between space. whether it be places I used to live, places I pass each day or places that I had never been before, certain themes always seemed to repeat themselves. london provided the perfect backdrop for the words I had thought about & written time ago but needed illustrating. words on identity, belonging, assimilation and existence. the process of making this allowed me to examine what my relationship is with london in an exploratory way. learnt some new things, deaded some perceptions and cemented others. but it was fun and rewarding all the same archive footage from kinolibrary