A group of artists revealed on Wednesday that they slipped the phrase “‘Homeland’ is racist” in Arabic graffiti along with other messages criticizing the Showtime spy drama in a scene that appeared on Sunday’s episode.
The artists, who said they were hired by the show’s production company, posted a lengthy explanation about the stunt to one of their personal websites.
The explanation — from artists Heba Amin, Caram Kapp, and Stone — said they wanted vent their “political discontent” with the series.
They said the set designers “were too frantic to pay any attention to us” and that what was written on the walls “was of no concern.”
“In their eyes, Arabic script is merely a supplementary visual that completes the horror-fantasy of the Middle East, a poster image dehumanizing an entire region to human-less figures in black burkas and moreover, this season, to refugees,” the explanation read.
The scene in question showed main character Carrie Mathison, played by Claire Danes, walking through a mock Syrian refugee camp when she passed the wall covered with graffiti.
The artists said other phrases painted on the set included, “There is no ‘Homeland’” and “‘Homeland’ is not a show.”
The artists said they were sending a message.
“The series has garnered the reputation of being the most bigoted show on television for its inaccurate, undifferentiated and highly biased depiction of Arabs, Pakistanis, and Afghans, as well as its gross misrepresentations of the cities of Beirut, Islamabad- and the so-called Muslim world in general,” the statement read. “For four seasons, and entering its fifth, “Homeland” has maintained the dichotomy of the photogenic, mainly white, mostly American protector versus the evil and backwards Muslim threat.”
Alex Gansa, the co-creator of “Homeland” told the New York Times that producers wish they had caught the images before they were aired.
“However, as ‘Homeland’ always strives to be subversive in its own right and a stimulus for conversation, we can’t help but admire this act of artistic sabotage,” Gansa told the Times.
Here are more images posted on Amin’s website along with the statement:
The graffiti shown in “Homeland.”
“There is no homeland” in Arabic.
Read the full statement on Amin’s site.
