The Broken Drum
December 2017
This is a 16mm film made using a 1970s Bolex video camera. I shot and developed the film in December 2017 while in Vancouver for 6 Months. It was the first analogue film I've made and involved much experimentation using chemicals in the dark room.
The Broken Drum evolved from discussions during my University Exchange to Emily Carr University. I naively enrolled on the course 'Indigenous Cinema'. As the only non-indigenous Canadian on the course, it was a very deep and swift dive into the monstrosities and disgusting realities of what the British did to the First Nations when we arrived on their shores as uninvited settlers.
The course consisted of debates and discussions around colonialism, Indigenous Canadian cultures, rights, Eurocentrism, cultural appropriation and analysing films and media. It was the greatest and most shameful education I've received to date and has influenced my practise and direction ever since.
The sound in the film is a recording of myself playing a traditionally styled First Nations Drum that I hand made in Vancouver from deer hide (deer skin) through the help of an indigenous friend of mine. The deer hide broke during the making of the drum and I was assured that this is extremely rare. However, I continued to make the drum and it still produces a sound.
The essence of this film work is centred around the intriguing and significance of the deer hide taring for the drum made by the white British person. After some thought, it became quite appropriate considering the circumstances and paved the way for the film.
The drum has a hole in it and I see this as a metaphor for the destruction colonialism caused to such an incredible and ancient culture that has so much to offer my perspective on the world and the way I view the land I live upon.
I wrote the poem as a reflection on what I'd learnt. I feel the ghostly visuals of the 16mm film lend themselves to the raw tactility and burning energy I felt while I studied and learnt more of my own history so rarely shared in my own country.
The Broken Drum - 16mm stills
