George Gittoes has spent more than 40 years documenting war zones through art and film - from Nicaragua to Iraq, Rwanda to Afghanistan and beyond.
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Gittoes travelled to America after speaking with a US soldier, Yanos Hagos, who told Gittoes his hometown in Chicago was far more dangerous than fighting in Iraq.
"I found this to be horribly true," Gittoes said.
"With rising gun violence in the USA, I decided to go to the place in South Side, Chicago to show how little progress has been made since 1968 when first I travelled to the US after the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King, and began to understand the depth of racism in that country."
The end result is the Werri Beach artist and film-maker's new documentary.
White Light depicts the community of Englewood in Chicago's segregated South Side, an area that has earned the nickname 'Chi-Raq' from some residents, who liken the area to the war zones in Iraq due to its high gun violence and murder rates.
White Light investigates why these civilian deaths are happening, highlighting ways the community is working to bring peace, and end the cycle of revenge which is perpetuated with every new killing.
They broke into our apartment whenever they wanted to. Everyone was terrified of them - the longer we were there, the more we realised that they were the scariest people in South Side, Chicago.
At the epicentre of the violence in Englewood is 'May Block'. White Light follows the teenagers who belong to the May Block's Black Stone Brothers.
"There's people being killed constantly in mass shootings and the like in South Side, that doesn't get any publicity," Gittoes said.
"So we really felt the importance of our film was that we went to the community... And said, 'you guys probably don't feel like anybody understands what you're doing, but this is your opportunity. I'm here, tell me your story, because this is the opportunity to tell it your way'."
Starting in 2018, the documentary was filmed, on-and-off, over an 18-month period.
Gittoes and his film company, including his producing partner, wife and musician Hellen Rose, embedded themselves within the community.
Gittoes said they didn't want to stay outside the area they were filming in and commute to their locations.
"We wouldn't have had any credibility with anyone if we'd been staying in a fancy hotel in the white side of town and driving in every day," he said.
"It just wouldn't have worked."
Gittoes said he and co-film-maker Waqar Alam pinpointed the corner of East 67th Street and Rhode in South Side, well-known for its high number of murders and gang shootouts.
"After inspecting some unsuitable (rental) places, I noticed a tall elegantly dressed, young man packing boxes into a new car," Gittoes said.
"He looked charismatic and athletic, like a young Muhammad Ali, so I thought, 'this is someone who would know if it is crazy for us to try to rent in this neighbourhood'.
"As he turned round I recognised him. It was Darius Marcus Ford, an arts student who had attended photography workshops I had given at Syracuse University.
"Marcus beamed to see me and told me that two ground floor apartments, next to the block, where we stood, had become vacant.
"Such an amazing coincidence made me think, 'this is meant to be, the angels are guiding us, and it will all work out'."
However, Rose said there were times when the experience was "emotionally harrowing".
"One morning we woke up and three teenagers were shot around our apartment - shot dead," she said.
"While we were in there we just knew this story had to get out - we felt like we were the only people in the world that knew besides African-Americans.
"It was a wild experience.
"It was heart-breaking in many ways, because it just felt like the situation over there... People say to me, 'were you scared there?' And the only people that I was ever scared of were the police.
"They broke into our apartment whenever they wanted to. Everyone was terrified of them - the longer we were there, the more we realised that they were the scariest people in South Side, Chicago."
During their time in Chicago, Gittoes and Rose opened their apartment to the community's young rappers as a safe space for them to come to write, collaborate and record music.
The film's soundtrack and accompanying radio documentary aims to capture South Side's extensive musical history, including pioneering blues and jazz; as well as drill, a darker, grittier sub-genre of hip-hop.
The music includes material recorded in South Side, with some Australian musicians also later contributing.
Rose said South Side is the birthplace of some of the greatest jazz and blues musicians, such as Mahalia Jackson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon.
"I realised that all this amazing music that had gone all over the world, all was born in this deeply segregated part of South Side, Chicago," Rose said.
"But it's like a ghost town now - it's like the soul has been ripped out of South Side."
Following its run at film festivals in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane last year, the documentary will air on ABC and iview on Tuesday, July 14 at 8.30pm.
Gittoes said it was unintentional, but fitting that the film gain a wider release at a time when the world is at a critical juncture in its response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
"It's amazing timing - it's meant to be," Gittoes said.
"Our intention is for White Light to be used as a tool by anti-gun violence groups to open discussions on how to bring peaceful and positive change.
"This is a film that must be seen by Australians too.
"The worldwide protest movement born in the wake of the murder of Minneapolis man George Floyd earlier this year has brought our own country's history with indigenous Australians into review."
The film will also have an American release.
Meanwhile, Gittoes and Rose hope, if able, to return to Chicago in October to resume filming the South Side community through the Presidential election period.
"I think Australians will want to see what's happening there, particularly during the election," he said.
"With Black Lives Matter and the protests over George Floyd, a lot of people are hoping there could be a change of government in America and we could start to see a bit of movement with social change.
"We don't want to give up working there until we've seen some change - some real change."