Wura Natasha Ogunji, born 1970, St. Louis, MO, United States Search this
Medium:
Single-channel digital video
Dimensions:
11 minutes, 57 seconds
Type:
Time Based Media
Geography:
Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria
Date:
2013
Series:
2 of 5
Description:
Will I still carry water when I am a dead woman? is a single channel video documentation of a performance art piece enacted on April 18 2013 in the streets of Lagos, Nigeria by artist Wura Natasha Ogunji accompanied by Taiwo Aiyedogbon, ruby onyinyechi amanze, Deola Gold, Odun Orimolade, Mary Oruoghor, Wana Udobang with crow-control assistance from Wale Adewole, Abiodun Akinrinola, Oluwasegun Famade, Tumi Gbebire, Mike Obi, Samuel Ololade, Saydo Omotosho, Toyosi Soile, Steven Ugoh. Throughout the duration of the performance, the women walked through crowded streets of Lagos, in the midst of other pedestrians, livestock, and moving vehicles. Each hauls two spray-painted-gold jerry cans full of water tied to either to her ankles or wrists. The women wear both matching hooded masks that conceal their faces and rompers in two different patterns of orange, fuchsia, yellow and lavender ankara cloth with angular and pointed shoulders and capped sleeves. Designed and created by Modesta Oge Okafor and Wura-Natasha Ogunji, these costumes refer to traditional masquerades but with an Afrofuturisic touch. The men assisting in Ogunji’s performance, they move between the women and the traffic on the street, using sticks to curtail cars that get too close. With each step taken by the women, the weight of the jugs is increasingly evident. Eventually, people stopped looking at them and went about their business. Over the course of the two-mile journey, the women struggle to maintain balance even as they are ignored by passersby. The women do not all move at the same pace. At the beginning, some would stop and wait for the others to catch up. As time elapsed, they stopped waiting; then, during the few times they resumed, impatience and agitation became present in each performers body language. Along the journey, the jerry cans bumped into each other. The friction of being dragged along the road causes the jugs to leak. Performers arrived at the finish with the jugs at various levels of fullness.
Provenance:
Purchased directly from gallery representing artist
Content Statement:
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