US TV show Homeland recently invited a number of street artists onto its set to paint ‘Arab Graffiti’ to line the walls and the setting of a scene for the series. Instead, the street artists used the opportunity to target the show’s contents and writing producing a number of slogans dissing the series.
As Egyptian Streets reports, the contents of the graffiti, which includes statements such as ‘Homeland is racist’ and ‘Homeland is a joke, and it didn’t make us laugh’ went unchecked and was includes in the series. The show is about a female CIA officer with biploar disorder who is sent to target terrorists across the Middle East, but it has drawn wide criticism for its depiction of the issue, including accusations of Islamophobia.
German graffiti artist Don Karl explains thusly: “In June of this year we received a phone call from a friend who had been contacted by Homeland’s set production company. They asked if he could help find ‘Arabian street artists’ to give ‘authenticity’ to a film set of a Syrian refugee camp on the Lebanese/Syrian border for their new season.”
“We weren’t too excited at first, because we don’t like how the show portrays people and life in general in the Middle East. But then we realised it would be a great opportunity to express our feelings about the show and we accepted the job.” The episode featuring their work was aired in the US on October 11.
