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Plumpen, 2016, live performance

Material: Living artist, small calabash, plumpen

Description: Living artist gauges herself on the reserves of water from the state.

The resources and right each citizen of developed nation has inadvertent of their economic status or class are all under contention in the land where I live. For many, leaving Lagos is an escape from scavenging and struggling. In Berlin, I was astonished by the level of things that were free and accessible to all. Water pumps all over Berlin give free clean water and in meant to be utilized by all citizens provisions made by the government. In Lagos, getting clean safe water is difficult and there is little to no government infrastructure. 

In the performance, I use the government service as a large comment on resource drain, envy, spite, migration, displacement. I begin to guzzle the water from the pump until I am sick. I drink past my full greedy with the fear I may run out. As a black woman in berlin, My body is read as a migrant or a refugee. The growing animosity towards black and brown bodies informed my performance.