Did We Leave The Lights On
Channel: Daniel Oduntan
Date: 07/11/2019

What is the price of creativity? And can everyone afford it? Shot entirely on a mini DV camcorder and using candid voice notes as commentary, Southwark-born artist and director Daniel Oduntan ponders the issue of practice and sustainability for low-income artists in a Post-Brexit world. In the film, Oduntan explores the link between social housing and creativity among the diaspora in Southwark. The role these communal spaces play in the arts and how the arts can be a path to healing and progress for residents. Will the falling numbers of affordable homes bring an end to this creativity? If so, what will take its place?

We hear from several Southwark residents, many of whom are from working class backgrounds and have lived in council housing. There’s photographer and illustrator Harry Alemu, product designer and creative technologist Alex Fefegha, artist/songwriter Joy Crookes, Tate curator Peju Oshin, Pempeople founder Nicholas Okwulu, sociology grad Saffon and IT teacher and social advisor Moses Alemu.

Layered with an original soundtrack of unfinished demos and sketched ideas from Daniel, ‘Did We Leave the Lights On’ is a snapshot of Southwark now and a prologue to Oduntan’s forthcoming interdisciplinary project 'Soul Complex'.

– Amar Patel


Featuring

Daniel Oduntan 1 0:15 / Harry Alemu 1 0:53 / Alex Fefegha 1:24 / Joy Crookes 2:28 / Saffon 3:05 / Nicholas Okwulu 4:50 / Moses Alemu 5:42 / Peju Oshin 7:15 / Daniel Oduntan 2 8:24 / Harry Alemu 2 9:35

Score

This Distance Between Us
Did We Leave The Lights On
Boy [Tales Of Brave Ulysses]
Red
Don't Let The Night

All songs written and performed by Daniel Oduntan


Mixed and mastered by Ben Hixon
Album art design by Euphemia Franklin
Neon artwork by 2inspire and Dwane Coleman

Director Statement
'Did We Leave The Lights On' to me looks at the space between investment and memory lost. I'm revisiting an unfinished photography project I worked on between 2010–2012 through video. It's me looking at and coming to terms with unfulfilled dreams and potential, as well as exploring the physical and mental impacts of social housing planning on Black creativity within Southwark.