The Project At A Glance
Where We Come From is a deeply personal, multidisciplinary moving-image piece that I directed and produced in close collaboration with filmmaker Thomas O’Donoghue (TOMOD). Developed as one of the pieces for the Stories in Motion exhibition program under the Cultures of Film initiative at the University of Huddersfield, the project maps the dual-heritage continuum connecting my life in West Yorkshire to my ancestral roots on the Caribbean island of Carriacou, Grenada.

What originally began as a song exploring roots and identity took on an urgent, profound new meaning when Hurricane Beryl made catastrophic landfall on Carriacou the exact day I released the track. Moving from an artistic exploration into a living historical archive, the film documents the tragic aftermath of the storm, capturing the resilient "Kayak Spirit" of the islanders while raising visibility and vital relief funds for the community's recovery.

Phase 1: The Teaser Screening at The Toasthouse
To ignite dialogue on campus and introduce the core themes of the project, we kicked off the creative journey with an intimate pop-up trailer screening at The Toasthouse, situated right at the primary gateway to the university campus.

Our Creative Intent
Serving as a visual and auditory bridge, we designed this teaser screening to break down the boundaries between the university and the public realm. I wanted to give attendees an exclusive first look at the cinematic language Tom and I developed. The trailer intentionally juxtaposed the gritty, industrial, rain-slicked architecture of northern England with raw, striking footage of Carriacou's post-hurricane landscape. By screening the teaser at a bustling campus social hub, we transformed a passing university space into an active site of cultural exchange, introducing students and the Kirklees community to our upcoming panel.

Phase 2: The Main Event at CreateLab (Barbara Hepworth Building)
The creative journey culminated in a packed, multi-format event inside the CreateLab, a state-of-the-art creative research space on the lower ground floor of the university's landmark Barbara Hepworth Building.

Film Screening & Sonic Experience
The evening featured an exclusive screening of the Where We Come From short film alongside its accompanying music video remix. Seamlessly blending my contemporary hip-hop production and gritty northern flows with traditional Caribbean rhythms and soulful vocal contributions from Ruby Wood, the screening completely immersed the audience in a striking Transatlantic audio-visual landscape.

"Unpacking the Vision" Panel Discussion
Following the screening, I took the stage alongside my co-filmmaker Thomas O’Donoghue and creative collaborator Emmanuel Allert for an in-depth panel discussion. Together, we explored the complex, non-linear realities of producing art rooted in the diaspora.

Key points we unpacked included:

The Evolution of the Track: How the real-world trauma of Hurricane Beryl completely redirected the emotional and structural journey of my song, transforming it into a vehicle for mutual aid and survival.

Decolonial Archives: A deep dive into how independent film and sound system subcultures allow us to bypass mainstream media's paternalistic "crisis imagery," empowering marginalized communities to author their own histories.

Global Collaborations: Insights into how we managed an international, cross-disciplinary panel of contributors across distances, including working with virtual assets and remote input from vocalists and island representatives.

Portfolio Impact & Creative Takeaway
"Unpacking the Vision" successfully demonstrated the power of place-based cultural development, linking research, diaspora studies, and grassroots music production. By utilizing different spaces across the university campus—from the welcoming environment of The Toasthouse to the academic sandbox of the CreateLab—the event provided a masterclass in how contemporary art can process geographic trauma, preserve ancestral roots, and spark collective social action.