My name is Otobong Nkanga
I am a visual artist, also a performer
I'm interested that the work can talk about the body
can talk about the landscape
can talk about multiple ways of understanding
how we can be here together
I remember when, as a kid
we lived in Yaba, in Lagos
we normally used to just walk to school
the sun would be coming up
the nice thing was that we'd see the roads glistering
with mica on the ground
This is in '80s with Diana Ross
and the moment of glitter and glimmer
I imagined myself being one of these Boney M ladies
which is weird
and have the mica on the skin
it’s something that is actually used in make-up
and I used to play with it and rub it on my skin
on the dark skin it really glitters
it really comes out
and with the sun you would play with it
and flicker your hands from left to right
and see it shine
it's not enough, it's not enough
I need to hear more, I need to hear more
I think that the performative aspect of it
has always been there
I think performance allows for something much more physical
that the drawings, or let's say the sculptures, does not allow
It's a different way of engaging with a public
or with
when I talk about public, my public could be the sea
could be the mountain, could be a people
could be a tree
and so the performance becomes crucial
because you can really sense the emotion
live
I wanted to erase the head
because the head had too much information
we would look at the nose, or your lips are too big
or you're this and that
it would bring in that notion of maybe race
it was just too much, because I was like trying to make a drawing
and while trying to make that drawing, all these questions were coming up
and I was just like, "Okay. I'll just cut off the head."
that was simple, head out
now, what I was interested in was gesture
the action of doing, of making, of movement
really focusing on what we do and how we do things
how we work
for me, that connection with the body rooted, almost like a tree
within a place
was also to try to think that the rootedness
does not necessarily connect to geographically being in a place
it's not about just your nationality, but it's about the land
if we do not take care of that
then it will not be able to give us the things that we need
the Weight of Scars was done in 2015
so, visiting the Tsumeb Mine
which is one of the oldest mines in Namibia
and seeing this hole and this dent
in this space
was quite emotional and quite hard to look at it
I wasn't just looking at the holes
but thinking, how many people have been digging this
going in to the shafts and the heat of that shaft
because when I entered into the tunnels
and the heat in that tunnel, you can't imagine
you're imagining the kinds of scars
the mental scars, emotional scars
the scars of a landscape
and these were the thoughts that I had
when I was making the textile work
these were mines that were dug by local people
before the Germans came in, the Namibians, the Ovambo people
would actually carve out and take out the minerals that they needed
and so, when I visited Tsumeb
you realise that it's a space that has been blown up with dynamite
I understood the difference between how technology changes the way we extract
it made me realize the kinds of tools that we're using
and how we've accelerated that process of
destruction, of scarification, of wounding
then we can imagine what has happened in places that have been colonized
people coming into a place and changing completely that structure of things
and that repercussion is still happening today
and, I think one thing I would like to talk about
was the notion of dependency and addiction
and when you see that we're going through the crisis we're going through today
and the kinds of scars we have in our landscape
how come we're not able to be able to make very big decisions
about reducing certain things that we do?
there is a kind of psychological state in which we are all
and I am also part of it
we are drug addicts in a way
and the drug is the resources
if we start thinking in such a way that we're that connected
and that we are also part of elements that are in the soil
we will maybe think of the way we work within our landscape differently
music or working with instruments have always been part of the family
but, one of the things that was very important was that we used to sing in church
so you learned how to sing with a group of people
you learned how to have different voices
I feel that with music, you're able to go beyond where the visuals don't talk
Tsumeb is one of the places that had the most minerals in the world
over 260 minerals in one cluster of a place
most of the names would be from the Europeans that came into the lands
and then, in quotes, "discovered" the minerals
when I was standing in front of this mine
I made a song for the mine and performed for the mine
but I kind of I call out the names of the minerals
talking to the mine and asking it what was its name
but of course, I don't get an answer
but at least I'm also appeasing it that I'm sorry
that your names have been changed
it's interesting to understand the transformation of language
of a place
when meanwhile, it had another name
it had another language connected to it
the work Delta Stories
which is a series of 18 drawings
is inspired from the writings or the work of Ken Saro Wiwa
and he was talking about him fighting with the government
and also with Shell
and about the pollution of the landscape
this has been happening since the 1970's
where the oil spills were in the landscape
the voice of Ken Saro Wiwa was silenced because he was put in jail
and also killed
even though he was trying to stand for something
that would benefit his people
it was a way of talking about, how can you have multiple voices
multiple ways of narration
so, it's not just one way
I think my work is to understand how are we connected
how are our histories connected
for me, it's important to go beyond only talking about a social or political
but to enter into a place that the emotional talks
more and more I think all the works that have been made
should be a way of bouncing and opening up ways of thinking
for different people
so, I hope the work does that
that it can connect the spaces in between
of places that are going through crisis
and to be able to understand how to be able to
live within this, or find solutions within this
I hope, but you never know