Part of Fall 1994
When videomaker Dawn Dedeaux was working with young male offenders in the Louisiana correctional system, she met Wayne Hardy and his younger brother Paul, both gang leaders from New Orleans. Over a number of years Dedeaux followed the brothers with her video camera, investigating the cycle of poverty, drugs and violence that entraps many young urban males. In guerrilla/documentary style, Dedeaux’s videos Urban Warrior Scrapbook, The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew, Dope Rope and Drive By Shooting challenge our notions of urban terror. The tapes portray violence as a political protest, a means of achieving status, and a sure-fire way to a ‘hero’s death’ in the midst of America’s urban war.
