In October last year, I travelled to New York to perform a pilgrimage to the places that held a particular romantic fascination for me, having either heard about them in songs or been associated with key moments in popular culture history. I made the journey around the five boroughs, dressed as my quasi-mythical alter-ego, The Barefoot Lone Pilgrim. I started to develop this character as a way to express my cultural confusion, an exaggerated vision of aspects of my personality, a barefoot, long-haired geek in my orange Shaolin Kung-fu uniform (I practice Kung Fu at a Buddhist temple near my house in London), listening to soul and hip-hop on my portable record player.
Through the film, I try to raise the thorny issue of cultural heritage and appropriation, whether my use of Black music, or references to Oriental culture, can ever be a celebration rather than exploitation.
Made in association with Grizedale Arts.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.