Steve McQueen prepares new Grenfell film: “I didn’t want to let people off the hook”
The Oscar-winning British filmmaker Steve McQueen has discussed his latest artwork Grenfell, which is due to appear at the Serpentine South Gallery in London.
Documenting the Grenfell tragedy, where a high-rise fire in a block of flats in North Kensington, West London, caused the death of 72 people in the summer of 2017, the artwork is a 24-minute film shot from a helicopter six months after the event. Shooting the tower before it was wrapped in white plastic, McQueen’s film silently circles the block of flats, giving viewers an insight into the interior damage of people’s homes.
“You must understand that the violence that was inflicted on that community was no joke,” the filmmaker told The Guardian, adding: “I didn’t want to let people off the hook. There are going to be people who are going to be a little bit disturbed. When you make art, anything half decent … there are certain people you will possibly offend. But that is how it is”.
A politically-charged statement from the filmmaker, Grenfell shows the destruction of the tower in stark contrast to the surrounding area. “I wanted to put the building in perspective of our everyday [life],” McQueen stated, “It’s not isolated. That is important because you [the viewer] put it in the perspective of yourself…It’s about the building and suspending it in time…And looking. Holding, holding, holding”.
Having gone through extensive consultation with the survivors of the fire, as well as neighbours and the wider community, McQueen has been careful in his approach to the sensitive subject, but he is very clear about who he blames for the incident. “It was deliberate neglect,” he told the publication: “It was no accident. There were so many people, so many companies, so many factors … It was all a deliberate act of neglect and, to a certain extent, greed”.
The film will be available to see at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens, London, from April 7th to May 10th.
