Cyclops (what is your nation?) emerged from a collaboration between performer Semilore Olusa and academic Dr. Piotr Sadowski as part of the collaborative practice module, MA Fine Art (Falmouth University). A discussion around James Joyce’s Ulysses, racism and the recent Dublin riots became the basis of the short film.

The film is carried by the narrator’s (Semilore) voice, sometimes quoting text from the book, improvising ideas around nationality and other times singing, but there are other voices which insist on being heard; the nationalist Cyclops ‘The Citizen’ who questions Leopold Bloom’s nationality and the Irish Lives Matter chants from the Dublin riots in November 2023. Collisions occur between old and new Ireland, spoken, sung and shouted words and the deconstruction of the Dublin anthem ‘Molly Malone’.

CYCLOPS ( WHAT IS YOUR NATION? )
2024 | 5mins 12secs | HD video with sound.