You definitely don’t want to miss out on George Gittoes! No one is more daring and adventurous than him. The Australian native is not only an artist and photographer, he’s also a filmmaker. Gittoes has spent over 25 years witnessing life-changing moments in some of the most notorious places in the world. Despite the uncountable encountered dangers, he continues to strap on filming equipment and goes into battlefields to fight for justice and equality. The talented director and his lovely wife, Hellen Rose, have brought positive social change and shun light on the local community through a non-profit they founded, The Yellow House. Come with Jejune to understand more about his experience in the hidden dangerous world and the impact his artwork has brought to the world with our exclusive interview below.

You are an artist, photographer, and filmmaker that focus on social, political, and humanitarian concern at the effects of war and injustice. What sparked your interest in pursuing this direction?
I was born in 1949 and grew up in a very poor area of Sydney, called Rockdale. It was like the Ellis Island of Australia, absorbing refugees from many countries suffering from the destruction of World War Two. There was only one English speaking family in our street, so, I developed a love of the many diverse cultures of my neighbors. I heard their stories of why they had fled to the sanctuary of Australia to start a new life. This was before television, so I began doing puppet shows in our backyard on Saturdays while I was still in Primary School. I donated the money to the Red Cross and soon their representatives came to visit me and tell me how my contribution was helping others all around the world. It inspired me to know art could make such a difference to others. When I was 18, I traveled to the US and lived in New York where I met the African American Artist Joseph Delaney. Joe showed me how art could be a witness to positive social change. After working with Joe, I could never consider doing abstract or decorative art. I was back in Australia by 1970 and I created the Yellow House collective with a group of other young artists including the amazing poster artist, Martin Sharp. When the Yellow House finished, I felt disillusioned by the fashionable art scene with its excesses and self-indulgence. I wrote to Mother Theresa of Calcutta, suggesting that I should go back to University and study Medicine or some other profession that could help people more than through art. Mother Theresa wrote back telling me “to use the gifts God has given me and that if I use them for others I would have a happy life.” I am not a Catholic, but I have followed that advice and am a happy and fulfilled 72-year-old as a result.

For the past four decades, you have traveled to and worked in many regions of conflict from Somalia to Cambodia to Rwanda and most recently, the Middle East (Israel and Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan). What has been your most memorable memory?
My happiest memories are those of the Yellow House I created with my wife Hellen Rose in Jalalabad, Afghanistan because we were able to prove that art can be more successful in bringing positive social change than the trillions of dollars and weapons expended by the military.

My worst experience was the Kibeho Massacre in 1995 in Rwanda. Where the Tutsi Lead Rwandan Army, slaughtered thousands of innocent refugees who were taking refuge in a church and school complex. My painting ‘The Preacher’ was conceived there when I had heard beautiful singing amidst the smoke and chaos. A preacher was reading from the New Testament to his flock. He brought them dignity, his words transporting them away from the panic and fear. I helped some children escape to a safe hiding place and when I returned, he and his congregation were all dead, but I will never forget his courage.

Back when you first started this creative endeavor, you visited these places through the Australian Military however you are no longer traveling with them. Has it been hard to accessing these places by yourself?
When I began traveling with Australian Peacekeepers, I had already made films in war zones like Nicaragua and the Philippines. I never had official status with the Military. I was surprised to gain unrestricted access in places like Somalia, Western Sahara, and Rwanda. For an independent, these places were impenetrable, at that time. In the same period, I covered conflicts in Cambodia Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Palestine, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tibet and South Africa independently of any connection to any military. I was never an Official War Artist. I am still amazed that I gained the access that I did, including the life-threatening Kibeho massacre in Rwanda, without any agreement or military status. The 90’s era of Peacekeeping was very inspiring with great triumphs of the human spirit, like that of Nelson Mandela and the ANC in South Africa, the end of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields in Cambodia, end to the civil war in Bosnia, and an end to the Troubles of Sectarian Violence in Northern Ireland. Plus, the Oslo Accord offered the hope of a negotiated agreement between Israel and Palestine. I experienced all this progress, which ended with the Twin Towers. 9/11 brought an end to my hopes for a less violent world. Like Michael Moore, (I contributed the Iraq footage for ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’), I am very suspicious about those behind the planning and financing of the airliner hijackings. We can be certain there was no Iraqi involvement by Saddam Hussain and the Taliban were innocent of playing any part, yet George Bush took the world back into the present era of non-stop war. Al Qaeda was a small Saudi Funded Terrorist group that could have been surgically taken out. Bush, certainly, did not invade Afghanistan to liberate the women. No one suggested an invasion or embargo of Saudi Arabia with its fanatical Wahabi version of Sharia Law. My film Soundtrack to War, shot in Iraq in 2003-4 (screened on VH1) began the journey that I am still following. Artists who strive to find alternatives to war are needed more than ever in this era where there is no vision of where we are going or who is leading us there.

Constantly being in a life-threatening position in some of the most notorious conflicts, have you experienced any danger? If so, can you describe the experience?
I try not to suffer too much from fear. I would rather be with the people whose lives are at risk than worrying about them from a safe distance. I am, presently, preparing, with my wife Hellen, to return to Afghanistan following the withdrawal of the US and other Foreign Military.

With nothing but pessimistic reporting about a pending civil war and the return of the Taliban, it seems crazy (to all our friends) that we are going when everyone else is leaving. Our plan, when there, is to decorate the Yellow House Circus Tent, which we normally take out into villages for children to experience music and performance, who may never have experienced either before. Artists and craftspeople, particularly women and girls, will come from all over the city to sew beads and mirrors and embroider onto fabric which will then be attached to both the inside and outside the canvas. We want to make it into the most beautiful and magical thing that has ever existed. Once finished, we will pitch it in the central park of Jalalabad, as a place of sanctuary where all sides can meet and seek peaceful solutions. We have done similar things in the past, like when we made a banner declaring Jalalabad ‘Love City’ and took it through the streets on the back of a rickshaw to Hellen singing ‘What the World Needs Now is Love’ in the Pashto language. We filmed this and it can be seen in our documentary ‘Love City Jalalabad’.

You released “White Light” in 2019 which is a documentary that highlights the devastating effects of gun violence on the lives of everyone in South Chicago, from residents to police officers. Can you tell us more about your thoughts on the significance of this documentary? How did you decide on your approach to this documentary?
When I was in Iraq in 2003-04 making Soundtrack to War I met a squad of soldier rappers at Uday’s Palace, which they had captured. Uday was Saddam’s ‘bad boy’ gangster son. The scene was like a Snoop Dog Video clip with these guys sitting around a luxurious pool in ornate gold chairs. Coming in ‘buzzed up’ from a street battle with the armed looters, they decided to let off steam in what they call the ‘bullring,’ with a freestyle rap battle. One of the best rappers, Elliot Lovett was from Miami, Brown Sub and the other, Yonas Hagos was from Southside Chicago. When I suggested that I try to get them safer missions to protect their amazing musical gifts, they both said, “It is much more dangerous where we come from in the US.” I found this to be an unbelievable statement – that they felt more at risk of being killed in their own neighborhood than the military war in Iraq. I followed Elliot back to Miami and made ‘Rampage’ and while making the film his brother Marcus was killed, tragically, proving the point. When statistics came out that more civilians were dying from gun violence, in one year in Southside Chicago, than soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, and that locals in Englewood renamed it ‘Chiraq’, I realized I needed to make ‘White Light.’ But before heading to Chicago I went back to Miami where Denzell, Elliot’s remaining brother had been shot. When I got there Denzell told me how he had been shot through the chest with an AK47 bullet from a professional, drug-related, hit team. When the paramedics arrived, Denzell was clinically dead. Fortunately, they were able to revive him. While he was out of this world, he saw a “White Light” and could hear Marcus calling him from “the other side.” He wrote a song called ‘White Light’ while clinically dead and was able to remember it while being rushed to hospital in the ambulance. That is where the title of our film comes from. That became my starting point for the film. Arriving in Southside Chicago I sought out people who had been shot and survived near death.

The most charismatic was Solja and his tight group of ‘brothers.’ Solja is paralyzed from the waist down, in a wheelchair, from multiple gunshot wounds but remains in command of the squad. I knew I had a film when he told me their group had “a guardian angel, protecting them – the beautiful Model Kaylyn.” Kaylyn was shot and killed in a ‘drive by’ when she had come to tell Solja and his friends how she had just gained a big modeling contract, after winning the Mario Make Me a Model contest.

Picasso always said, “I do not seek, I find.” That is my approach with documentaries – I gain access and the trust of the people in the zone where I want to work and then they begin to tell their stories. The final product is a collaboration, and everyone involved gets a sense of ownership and pride about their contribution to the finished production.

We learned that in the process of filming White Light, you gained the trust of gang members. How has that experience been? Are you still in contact with them?
The main characters in the film are all Black Stones from May Block. They call one another brothers and hate the term gang and would get very annoyed if I referred to them as “gang members.” They compare the ‘G’ word ‘gang’ or ‘gangbangers’ to the ‘N’ word as they see it as a way of stereotyping everyone in their community, degrading and demonizing them into something less than human. The biggest lesson of the film comes when they explained, “there are no good guys or bad guys, who kill us and we kill back, you would like them as much as you like us.” This cycle of payback violence is as endless as it is senseless except for maintaining segregation with a red line marked out by DO NOT ENTER -CRIME SCENE tape.

We are a team of my wife, Hellen Rose, and Waqar Alam from Pakistan. Waqar and I use two small 4K cameras and handhold, so we are very low-key. We rented two apartments on the most notorious corner for gun deaths in Southside. I would go down to the corner, each morning with my hot cup of tea, sit on a log and people would wander over to chat with this strange, long-haired, 70-year-old white guy that had become a fixture. In the year it took to make the film we did not see another white person except white cops. I told the locals, that as well as the paintings, which they could see me doing, I was making a film and welcomed their advice on people to meet. Solja was on the top of their list to interview. When Waqar and I entered Solja’s apartment he was surrounded by his group of close brothers. The tension in the first minute was electric. I was the first white person who had ever walked through the door, and they assumed we had concealed guns. But within 15 minutes we had their total trust and began rolling our cameras. I have learned from the many war zones I have worked in that if people grow up from childhood in an atmosphere of threatened violence, they learn to ‘read’ people in seconds because they know their lives could be at risk. This survival skill allows them to switch from defensive mode to trusting mode in seconds.

We have become close family with all the characters in the film and had planned to bring them to Australia for the Theatrical Launch in Cinemas, but Covid came and prevented this. They joke, half-seriously, about us needing to kidnap them and bring them all to live in Australia where there are no guns and little crime. White Light went to ABC television and was enormously successful in Australia, we are, now hoping to do live music, club show for the Sydney Arts Festival, in January 2022 featuring the rappers from Southside. In the meantime, we plan to return and shoot a new end for White Light which brings the stories into the present post Trump Period. We will offer this version for US distribution. Three of the principles Smiley the narrator, Solja and Headshot have been seriously shot but survived and two who were only briefly in the film have been killed. In the last few months, the level of gun violence and deaths in Southside had doubled. The updated film will ask why things are not getting any better and work to help those seeking solutions.

Jejune really likes the song “City Off the Chain”. Was the song sang by the gang members? Can you share with us what this song is about and what does it signify?
I will pass this question to my partner Hellen Rose who collaborated with the Southside musicians to make the music for White Light.

Hellen Rose:
Yes, the song ‘City Off the Chain’ was written and performed by the May Block group featured in the film.

The music was written by LBX who sings the main hook, while I sing the female hook. Then Smiley, L'il Mac, and Fessa improvised the rap lyrics right off the ‘top of the dome’ as they say, in Fessa’s humble Studio. These wraps generated a powerful ‘straight from the heart and soul energy’ that really comes across in the video clip. It was the middle of Summer, and you can see the sweat and heat and feel the direct pain of these wrappers who literally struggle to survive on the streets of the South Side every day. Let’s look at the words, “My city is off the chain, My city is not the same (as yours) and LBX points to the Chicago sign), somebody come and help us.” This was written in 2018 before the world finally reached some kind of tipping point that acknowledged the police murder of George Floyd – when we were filming in 2018 we could hardly believe the reality that was unfolding for us, that people were being shot down stone-cold dead on the street by the police in broad daylight in front of kids, grandmas, people just trying to get to school at the bus stop. The horror of this is what these kids live with every day. The feeling that there is a type of total lawlessness “off the chain”– this song is a plea for help. Smiley’s words: “Vandyke shot Laquan 16 times in under 14seconds, his mind was made he didn’t ask no questions.” So many names and references to the police murders of mainly black men have been ignored previously. We made the choice in White Light to ‘show the footage of police killing citizens, including in the first opening minutes of the film and that led to many rejections of the film especially by American festivals (as if the footage wasn’t real or believed- that shocked me) – until the world wide explosion regarding the slaughter of George Floyd. Somehow that one death in so many, somehow, was ‘seen and believed’. The community was just so happy we were there with them witnessing this totally horrific dismissal of respect for the life of the community by the police and the ‘white community’ living in luxury just blocks away. L’il Mac’s rap is talking to ‘teen killers’ who are caught in a cycle of depredation where education and recreation are underfunded however guns and drugs are everywhere and are all the, mainly teen boys, have to make them feel like a ‘man’ or have some kind of prestige or power. “They’re killing little boys ‘n shit,” L’il Mac raps in disbelief himself, rapping that these kids are “shooting before they’ve even got a name” and “Lil bro didn’t think he was gonna get hit, he was playing with toys n’ shit.” Fessa covers the fear and poverty cycle, the ‘low self-esteem battle’ “stuck in a poor pit, I need help, swimming like I’m Michael Phelps…’ The poetry of the streets is real.

You are in the process of filming a new documentary named “Withdrawn” which will witness the effects of the outbreak of Civil War between Government Forces and the Taliban after the withdrawal of foreign troops. What was the inspiration behind producing this film?
I have grown to love the people of Afghanistan over a period of 25 years, first going there while the Taliban were in power in the ’90s to assist with the projects to clear Russian Landmines and help the victims. After 9/11 it was to assist Medicines Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) and the friendships made over these years lead to establishing the Yellow House in Jalalabad with my wife Hellen Rose. There were not art or film schools or places for artists, musicians, and filmmakers to gather and collaborate in Jalalabad. I was making Pashto Language films at a time when the Pakistani Taliban were bombing video stores and killing filmmakers when a group of Afghan actors came to invite me to help start an art collective in Jalalabad. I rented a building which became the Yellow House, and it is still flourishing. With the withdrawal of US Forces, we have been seeing the news every day of a growing civil war and we are filled with concern for all our friends there. Hellen and I know we have to be back there to show our support and bring hope that not everyone in the world is deserting Afghanistan.

The new documentary will be a multiple-character-based film and of course, you’ll be interviewing a lot of people. How do you choose the people you interview?
All of my films are portraits of a community rather than a single protagonist, so, the challenge is to get to know and love a wide range of characters and follow them all through their own dramatic arcs. In this, I have a similar approach to a drama director in that I try to make each person shine. I feel I have succeeded when people come up to me and ask, “How is Steel? How is Shazia? How is Demo? How is Solja?” They have grown to engage with the characters enough to care about what has happened to them. I do not know how many people have asked if they can buy Brave Lion, the disabled father in Snow Monkey, a wheelchair. The characters usually find me, like with the Ice-cream boys in Snow Monkey.

At the Yellow House, we had the problem of how to distribute the drama films we were making to women. Women, in Jalalabad, were not allowed to visit video stores and their husbands would only rent macho action movies. We were making films like ‘Talk Show’ and ‘A Tailors Story’ which featured positive women’s stories. Every time our film crew was out, on the street shooting a scene for one of the dramas we would be interrupted by the sound of loud tunes from the pushcarts of boys selling ice cream. To our actors and crew this was a nuisance until we realized this was the perfect way to sell our DVDs. When mothers come to the back fence of their homes to buy ice cream for their kids, they could be offered movies, as well. These enterprising young ice-cream sellers eventually told me there were no movies for kids and they wanted to make one about their lives. Documenting them making their first movie, titled ‘Snow Monkey,’ became the basis for our documentary ‘Snow Monkey.’ One of the boys, Zabi, is now a man and has become the leading frontline news cameraman in the region. He will help shoot ‘Withdrawn’ as well as being a character in the film. The bad boys of ‘Snow Monkey’ were real-life child gangsters, lead by Steel and his Brother Bulldog. Bulldog is now in the army and Steel runs an ID printing business outside the bank where he used to rob the customers. Their stories will be even richer in ‘Withdrawn’ because we will be able to show them when they were younger and now as they face the crisis of civil war where Bulldog will be asked to fight the Taliban and, once again, Zabi will be following them with his camera.

“Withdrawn” focuses on answering the question: “Will the Taliban turn back the clock for women when the foreign troops withdraw?” from the view of the people from Jalalabad. What is your personal thought? Do you think they will? If so, what do you think needs to be done to improve the situation?
Our experience of the Afghan Taliban is not the way the world media is portraying them. My view of the Taliban has changed since making ‘Miscreants of Taliwood’ in the Tribal Belt of Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban were so angry with the film they sent a death threat to me via the Australian Embassy and text messages offering to “remove my face from my body.” One time during filming they arrived and put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger, but the gun mischarged. Fortunately, they read that as Allah not wanting me dead and did not pull the trigger a second time. In Afghanistan it is a different story, the leader of the Taliban in Jalalabad, Mulana Haqqani (not the terrorist Haqqani of Waziristan) investigated our Yellow House and decided it was “Good for the people of Afghanistan” and offered umbrella protection. We became friends and his older children attended both Hellen’s women’s workshops and my art classes. Sadly, Haqqani was killed by an ISIS suicide bomb. One of his sons has become an officer in the Afghan Army. It will be interesting to see what he will do if asked to fight the Taliban, including friends of his father. As soon as we return, we will meet with Haqqani’s children and organize to see his successor. We hope of gaining a letter of safe passage from a senior figure we can show to Taliban soldiers on the street, if they try to oppose our filming or other work. My plan is to enter into a dialogue with their leadership and become an advocate for women’s rights and the arts. I am optimistic about these meetings, and we will have cameras recording throughout.

How do you hope people interpret “Withdrawn”?
I am hoping ‘Withdrawn’ will encourage people not to give up on Afghanistan. We all have to try to prevent Afghanistan from falling into a humanitarian disaster, with thousands of refugees fleeing, like what we are seeing with Libya, Lebanon, Mali, Syria, Somalia, Myanmar, and Yemen. Most of all we want to show how art and communication are preferred options to bring positive social change and a better alternative to military intervention.

What has been or do you foresee will be the most challenging about filming this documentary? Will the production set place in a lot of dangerous sites?
It is my job to protect everyone involved in our film and art projects. My primary responsibility is to keep everyone as safe as possible while out in the community with our cameras and art projects. The security challenge takes more of my time than any of the art or filming. When I witnessed and documented the Kibeho massacre in Rwanda in 1995.

I never put my professional objectives with my cameras ahead of saving lives. I was told by the killers that if I “Even thought of taking a photograph” I would be killed. I managed to take over 1,000 photos and these were used as evidence against the murderers but I also managed to collect a lot of babies whose mothers had been killed and get them onto trucks to safety. I work alone in dangerous situations or with my long-time assistant Waqar. Waqar was born in a conflict zone and is, therefore, as experienced as I am at staying alive. It would be irresponsible for me to take anyone into harm’s way who had not had a lifetime of experience at the frontline of conflict.

When will “Withdrawn” be aired for people to watch it?
As yet we do not have any details about release dates. On our way to Afghanistan, we will stop off in LA to have meetings to discuss a distribution plan with our US partners.

You have been in Afghanistan for over 25 years now. What do you think is the most misunderstood thing about Afghanistan’s culture and community?
The dominant culture in Afghanistan is Pashtun. Issues like the over-protection of women and lack of women’s rights go back to tribal traditions that predate Islam and the Taliban. The History of Roman, followed by European colonial conquest should be kept in mind. The Spanish Catholics invaded Mexico for Aztec gold and justified their greed with the pretense of bringing Salvation through Christ. Aztecs with their own ancient Mayan religion were often asked to choose death or conversion to Christianity. Terrible massacres and destruction were justified in the name of Jesus. Our Western Culture has developed Social Justice and Equality rights very quickly over the last 150 years in an ongoing evolution. It is, however, arrogant to try to force the rapid adoption of these humanist values on other, very different cultures at the point of a gun. The West is impatient to make Afghans adopt radical changes and that are considered, best for them. Our experience is that if a gun is put to the head of an Afghan father and he is told he must send his daughters to school, his pride will have him take up his own gun and shoot back but if his wife watches one of our movies about the advantages of the education of girls and shows it to her husband, in the security of their home, it is most likely the father will support his wife and daughters and allow school enrollment. Successful social change in Afghanistan is being rapidly advanced through communication arts, like film and by social media, while it is pushed backward by military actions.

On a lighter note, Jejune admired that you founded a non-profit organization called “The Yellow House Jalalabad”, which we love to know more about and support. Can you tell us more about this non-profit organization’s work and mission?
We are a team of just three, Hellen, Waqar, and me. We need more people to help. While we know the establishment of a not-for-profit is essential so people can get a tax benefit, we have not had the time to set one up. Perhaps you know someone who understands the laws on this and can assist. All our projects are funded by the sale of my paintings. Most of the collectors believe passionately in what we are achieving and know their purchases enable us to continue.

How can we raise awareness for organizations such as these and their causes, and if our readers want to get involved and show their support, what can they do? Are there any resources you could share?
There are multiple ways of supporting The Yellow House Jalalabad, we are currently setting up a Foundation however the best way is through the purchase of artwork which is the main funder of the Yellow House. Donations are always welcome. The simplest way to help is to ‘follow’ and ‘like’ our Yellow House Jalalabad social handles and that way you can connect directly with some of the stars of the Yellow House Jalalabad!

What has been the most eye-opening thing you have learned throughout the years of traveling to these battle- and killing fields of the most infamous places?
Sadly, I have witnessed more death and suffering through senseless wars than I can bear to remember. Wherever I have been, the people experiencing conflict have been extremely kind to me, and each other, leading me to believe that when things are at their worst people are at their best. It is always power-hungry, merciless leaders who are the problem. These monsters seem to know how to take control and hang onto it. The bottom line for humanity is we need to elevate true empaths like Greta Thunberg to leadership and find a way to close out the psychopaths and sociopaths that are presently ruling more countries than ever before in history.

How have you been staying positive during the lockdown?
The lockdown has given me the luxury to work in the studio on my painting for the longest time I can remember. Since I have been unable to travel, I have tried to create works which visualize what I think everyone is feeling in times of great insecurity. The works deal with the general loss of faith in leadership, the huge disparity between the super-rich and the rest of us and impending planet-wide, environmental disaster. Collectively the works are a warning sign to humanity. Hopefully, they can work like a road sign telling us to slow down.

When the Olympics opened to empty stadiums in Tokyo, due to Covid Lockdown, it was announced that Brisbane in Australia would host the 2032 Olympics. I could not help wondering why people in Brisbane were celebrating with such enthusiasm. Eleven years from now the chances for the kind of open and free Olympics the world has enjoyed in the past seem, very remote.

What is your motto in life?
My motto is ‘Beauty in the face of everything’. I like the line in Voltaire’s Candid “All is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.” Regardless of all, I have witnessed I remain an optimist. Just to get up each day and pick up a brush, a musical instrument or a camera requires tremendous optimism. Artists are fortunate to be like alchemists turning lead to gold. When we feel really sad or angry, we can begin to draw, write or compose and convert our negative emotion to the ecstatic high that comes from expressing something new.

To stay tuned and connect with George Gittoes, please follow him via the below platforms:
http://gittoes.com/
http://hellenrose.com/
White Light - https://www.whitelight.film/
Yellow House Jalalabad
Instagram - gittoes_studios

Into the Hidden Dangerous World with George Gittoes