EMAIL / INSTAGRAM / FILM / MUSIC
MUSIC
Created and performed by drummer and composer, Guy Wood, in collaboration with The Mystifiers Collective.
Grit and Dirt is a double album featuring a collection of music uncovering stories and narratives around the concept of Shelter. Recorded during 2024 at site specific locations and studios around Amsterdam.
Credits:
Guy Wood - Drums, Percussion, Production
Ivan Torres - Cello
Donnie Adams - Vocals
Shira Wolfe - Vocals
Ernst Banen - Vocals
Lies Schilp - Vocals
Julia Murray - Vocals
Georgie Sofia - Vocals
Thijs van Milligen - Saxophone / Clarinet
Additional Production - Nicholas Thayer
Mix - Guy Wood
Mastering - Nicholas Thayer
Artwork and Design - Mr Pete Lewis
Photography and Film - Farhad Khodadadzade
“Globally, 1.6 billion people worldwide live in inadequate housing conditions, with about 15 million forcefully evicted every year.” - un.org
POSTERS
A2 Campaign Posters designed by Mr Pete Lewis. In combination with the zine, the poster series is a social impact action, bringing the format to the people and the streets. For walls, bedrooms, underpasses, living rooms and toilet doors.
“Housing is a basic human need. By 2025, 1.6 billion people are expected to be affectedd by th global housing shortage. - weforum.org
2 x A2 Posters - “Grit” and “Dirt”
“Homelessness violates the principle of human dignity enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” - ohchr.org
ZINE
Designed in collaboration with designer, Mr Pete Lewis, the zine is a call to action in itself. A vessel of knowledge and artistic responses to this critical social theme
A2 Posters folding to an A6 Zine
Artwork and Design - Mr Pete Lewis
Content - Guy Wood and The Mystifiers Collective
“We want it now
Peace equality and being free
We want it now
Clean food to eat and air to breathe
We want it now
All of our people on the grind
All around the world we can feel its our time
We want it now
Now now now
We want it now
Now now now
We want it now
Now now now
We want it now”
- Donnie Adams
FILM
Created in colaboration with film maker, Farhad Khodadadzade and designer, Pete Lewis. Exposing the reality of urban shelter and the injustice of social rights.
Credits:
Guy Wood - Drums, Percussion, Production
Ivan Torres - Cello
Donnie Adams - Vocals
Shira Wolfe - Vocals
Ernst Banen - Vocals
Lies Schilp - Vocals
Julia Murray - Vocals
Georgie Sofia - Vocals
Thijs van Milligen - Saxophone / Clarinet
Additional Production - Nicholas Thayer
Mix - Guy Wood
Mastering - Nicholas Thayer
Artwork and Design - Mr Pete Lewis
Photography and Film - Farhad Khodadadzade
“A safe, decent, affordable home is the foundation for a healthy, happy life.” - crisis.org
POST -
CARDS
Designed by Mr Pete Lewis with photography from Farhad Khodadadzade, creating a personal method to spread the social message. An alternative look at reality, without the sugar coating.
10 A6 postcards
“I wish I could do better
But I’d rather be left alone
To lie within bark
That grew from the secrets I hone
And I stole it from a film
A xerox of the real scene
Now I watch you in comfort
Through layers of my imaginary T.V.“
- Georgie Sofia
STORY
In 2022 I was commissioned to create a socially driven work that would combine my practice as a drummer, producer and composer with my work as an ‘activist’. For some 25 years I have been producing, curating and facilitating inclusive music making experiences aimed at triggering positive change for people that have, or are, suffering from issues related to homelessness. This pathway began when I was a student of music in London and has taken me on a journey around the world, working with the most inspiring, beautiful, generous human beings. All bought together through our shared passion for music.
The artistic concept is about illuminating the concept of Shelter and raising awareness to the cruelty of Homelessness. The process took 4 years and was focused around site specific creation. The first year was spent researching various issues surrounding land preservation and human rights, housing policies and both legal and philosophical constructs of shelter, and what that means for us. I talked with colleagues and friends that work with Homeless support organisations and listened to people and their stories, slowly finding the core themes of the commission. I then began to create, first by exploring through site-specific visits to ‘rough-sleeping’ spots in the city, where I experienced the space, took field recordings and visual documentation. Later, I returned with two members of The Mystifiers Collective, Ivan Torres - Cello - and Donnie Adams - Vocalist / Rapper / Spoken Word Artist, where at the ‘location spots’ we talked, played, wrote, created and recorded.
The next stage was developing this material into two albums, Grit & Dirt, featuring various vocalists and instrumentalists from The Mystifiers Collective.
Alongside Farhad Khodadzade we then made the same trips but with a stills camera and then film to create a piece that quite literally illuminated these ‘shelter’ locations in Amsterdam. The final stage of the creative process was developing the print material (Posters / Zine / Postcards) in collaboration with my long-time friend and chief of the art department behind (UK based imprint) WW Records, Pete Lewis. To further establish this link and to bring Preservation to wider audiences, WW Records are releasing an E.P featuring reworkings of 4 of the album tracks, created by Old Man Diode and Guy Wampa.
Preservation is a call to action. A culmination of over two decades of experience, absorbing heart-breaking stories, listening and connecting to unique but unheard voices and creating artistic spaces for the unseen to become seen. The story of homelessness is a human one, the consequences for people suffering from this injustice is devastating. The cause is complicated, but solveable. Preservation is about bringing awareness to the harsh reality of these living environments, to the dignity we all deserve and the right to the safe physical space we call Shelter. - Guy Wood 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------
As humans we exist in an eco-system of rapidly moving parts - living, non-living, physical, emotional. Retaining the balance between ourselves and the world around us is a delicate task. Personal situations can change at any moment; relationships, work, housing and health are all delicately intertwined in a fragile safety net.
The slightest of imbalances can have drastic consequences on our lives and with the current impact of global political and financial conflict, many of us are now at the tipping point.
Littered with the refuse of ill decisions, corrupt social policies, irrelevant politics and bad behaviour, our world’s cities and landscapes are being repurposed by a growing number of unhoused people. Bridges, doorways, underpasses, metro stations, stairwells, parks are all transformed into peoples homes, places to survive. Shelter is a basic human right that is becoming increasingly compromised for a drastically growing proportion of our fellow citizens.
Homelessness is a social injustice. The search for shelter is a global and local issue. The preservation of our society is directly linked to the preservation of our habitats, both rural and urban. Amsterdam, a city of 1 million has around 30,000 people in need of shelter, shelter from the natural elements and shelter from the ever-demanding restraints that society places upon us. Homeless, itinerant, young old, the unhoused are not clichés, they are your neighbours, your colleagues, your friends, your family. Surrounded by wealth our global communities should in no way see such high numbers of people that suffer in this way. By preserving our human right to shelter in all its forms we can re-imagine our habitats, we can make sustainable change.
“People sleeping on the street are almost 17 times more likely to have been victims of violence. More than one in three people sleeping rough have been deliberately hit or kicked or experienced some other form of violence whilst homeless.” - crisis.org.uk
ACTION
What can you do?
- Donate: money, food, clothing to a local shelter or homeless organisation.
- Learn: about these issues and share your knowledge with people around you.
- Connect: with homeless people in your community.
- Respect: places local to you used for shelter, they are home to someone.
- Advocate: and take action for positive change in issues related to homelessness and housing.
You can also support the various makers and organisations that made Preservation possible -
The Mystifiers Foundation
HVO Querido
WW Records
Mr Pete Lewis
Farhad Khodadadzade
With deep gratitude to
Societé Gavignies
For more information contact -
mail@themystifiers.org