Homelands

Description:

Homelands is a seven-minute video developed by British poet Joolz while in residence at Western Front. Directed and produced by Paul Wong, the work was driven by their shared outrage over the race riots taking place in the United Kingdom, and the disorienting experience of witnessing this injustice unfold from afar on television. 

The video layers original and appropriated footage—television broadcasts of riots and public protests, newspaper clippings reporting on state-sanctioned violence, and symbolic imagery such as tarot cards—to confront themes of police brutality, apartheid in South Africa, the corruption of power, and the broader sociopolitical climate shaped by Thatcherism and Reaganomics. 

Melding poetry, music, and image, Homelands is a meditation on disillusionment, political grief, and resistance. An original text by Joolz written while in Vancouver is read throughout the video, and accompanied by a score composed by Steve Rosin.

Video documentation is available upon request.