September 2019 Nkabom Literary Festival, Jamestown beach Accra.
A fragile moment, unknown space in the time of a frozen but living fact of the past together with the present memories . A space with no doors or windows , in the infinity I have found myself and whether I should continue is a difficult decision. It looks beautiful but not an easy decision for now but the story doesn't end as it needs to be encountered and narrated differently by all living beings as our sense of mortality. Yet I am dragged far and lost in the gaze of the past ,watching these newsletters has restaged time which I have drawn in. Raising the question of how connected we are with time and space, the struggle to survive in our daily life as time passes making way for a new time with different experiences.
Performing in a coffin which is decorated with outdated newspapers and as a body wash down shore. Lying in a coffin which is sealed with no space to escape but only termite holes on the coffin serving as a passageway for air . The only hope is to break the coffin and free myself a means of discovering yourself within space. And to challenge my audience of how they deal with issues of emergency in their individual space.
Follow the link for performance video: https://vimeo.com/405328709
August 2019 , James fort prison ,Jamestown Accra.
Performance developed as a site specific performance questioning the concept of imprisonment and death. In this context, I created my own coffin filled with termites in a prison cell where Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, was sentenced for 3 years. Considering the space in a concept of tomb which I laid in a coffin of termite inserting myself into the history of Ghana and the struggle for independence while investigating hopes that might have been lost at that time. The performance aimed at evoking emotions and exposing the audience to an internal experience of confinement, struggle to survive and the ' will to die’ as revolutionaries . At Chale Wote Street Art Festival ( Pidgin Imaginarium) performing with two different carved human sizes of my past sculpture piece left to decay by termites for 2 years.
For video follow, https://vimeo.com/405277246
August 2019 Alliance Française Kumasi.
Days are passing, each one having its own experience which we encounter as time passes drawing us close. Yes, very close to that one moment which I wish never existed or even holding it for a longer period but wasn't possible. How far and quick it happened as I thought it has ended just to realize I have begun a new journey. How it happened and where exactly I'm going if I had known earlier I would have informed you.
A performance which was influenced by an outdated practice of the Ewes who lived in the Volta region of Ghana where I come from. Where people are punished buried alive in a sacred space living only their head on a level ground at the mercy of wild birds and animals until they face their death. In this performance I dug a hole 1.52 meters deep where I buried myself in a standing position with termites around my head. It ended when the audience could not hold their adrenaline but were left with no choice to dig me out. Performance aims at dealing and confronting death , the hope for survival through our daily struggle as a means of living drawing energy from the earth and support for a new life. The question of how we experience our individual death leaving people around us in an emotional dialogue.
Follow for performance video, https://vimeo.com/402405921
July 2019, crazinisT artisT studiO , PerfocraZe International Artist Residency.
Trapped in my own intuition of fear and shame covered in the bosom of death lost in the shadows of the days that I wish I never experienced. They are dragging me away from you and I know how mad you feel now but if you can see it from a different perspective I'm just following my path of life and hope for a new beginning.
In this performance I dug my own grave and buried myself in a decayed costume with clay all over. Attached is a video documentary of worker termites and soldiers working on an expansion of an old colony which I installed serving as a grave headstone. This is to challenge my body and the fear of death , decay as a continuous process and the mortality of all living beings .Performance lasts for 2 hours of meditation of my body in the presence of a world far from the physical world.
June 2019, Alliance Française Accra.
An experimental performance which deals with my body in the presence of death, investigation in the processes of decay. I constructed a coffin 1.82 meters by 0.60 meters filled with a colony of termites for a performance period of 3 hours. My body was resting in a sarcophagus cast out of mashed cardboard paper taking my body shape, an idea borrowed from Egyptian process of mummification of the dead. This was performed in a group exhibition by perfocraZe international artist residency May/June edition , which I played with the effect of ellipsoidal light. The light plays a role of guiding me through a meditational trip of exploring my inner self and hope for survivor.
May 2019, crazinisT artisT studiO , PerfocraZe International Artist Residency.
An experimental performance that deals with my personal experience and fear of death. A performance of rebirth and the interconnection between the physical and spiritual world. From the idea of mummification I constructed a sarcophagi from cast cardboard paper buried for two day. I laid in the sarcophagi which is placed in a coffin with a host of termites . The wood for the coffin is collected from the nearby households with scars of hidden memories and histories of its immediate environment also from the effect of nature and other living organisms, especially termites. Lying in these memories and histories which are embedded in the dead rotten wood ,confronting the untold stories which are hidden from view in a silent and meditative state.
Follow the link for video of the performance, https://vimeo.com/410175675