August, 2020 at Ussher Fort Accra. Chale Wote Street Art Festival (Counter State Mythology).

My ancestors permit me to wake you up from your peace! I call upon you all to a compelling council of war. Your grandson is sacrificing himself to convoke all the family elders who have departed to the land of tomorrow  to a family meeting to resolve issues of generational interest. To inquire for himself about humanity, our state of being and our mortality as your  descendants. The culture and mayhem of death that live within our society paying humanity homage in unforeseen circumstances. In exchange separating families, friendships, creating war, instilling consternation, leaving us with trauma that devours our souls.

I hereby stand in your presence as a sacrificial fowl to pay the price in exchange to find the root, solutions and means of dealing with the rot that awaits to usher me to earth. And if I have been stubborn about not embracing life in a way of facing the reality.  I believe life has been mean to me, if not tell me it's really important for humanity to pay such a price and for which offense?

In a council of carved life-sized rotten wooden figures representing my ancestors, I present as a sacrificial fowl tired by the hand together with the legs anticipating the horror and answers inscribed in the faces of the figures. With water beside as a warm gesture for a peaceful and spiritual acceptance of the sacrifice. At the background is a traditional ewe funeral song (dirge) which connects with my performing body mimicking a lamenting slaughtered fowl.

August 7th to September 7th, 2020, Top High opposite Ghanamy, Kumasi

A call of emergency for all humanity as there is a shift in time, a moment to reflect, contemplate and journey to the unknown. It is about time we take a break with a deep breath in a relaxing mood to think and reflect on one subject which we can never do away with in life (death) as it is our next encounter separated by time. Do you imagine which world and experience you have just immersed yourself in? The encounter  of our everyday life is engraved as unforgettable scars. Trapped in these seats of memories and histories to guide us in our journey leading us in meditation to the next experience of life yet to be discovered individually.

Yes, let's keep awake not to be trapped in the sleep of uncertainty, for there is more to be discovered and explore but trapped in time. In silence you will find out the echoing of these seats about tomorrow and an unknown future. I'm on a personal tour of a brutal tripe of unforeseen circumstances coming to me as a shock ending of my existence, a rare upheaval from nowhere driving to no end. I misunderstood the world by not paying attention to investigating my existence but that was too late for me. 

Traumatized in the scene of hallucination, a path ending spiritual transition of mankind and all living beings. How visible could this be if we are still stacked in our sleep and dreams which are unpredictable. Unless we keep awake, yes we need to in a meditational journey join the ride on a tripe as you find for yourself. On your seat take a personal ride  emotionally on your thoughts guided by the echoing car seats following your past experience in relation to your present moment to anticipate your future.

Performance inspired by the concept of wake keeping, the act of paying respect to our diseased and traditional rituals performed to mortal bodies. Re appropriating the ritual performed to people who died fatal death ( car accident, murder) as considered bad death. That their souls will not be at rest but haunt back if a ritual is not performed to console them. Connecting these concepts with the mechanic shop which serves as a healing space for broken down vehicles also a moment of evoking memories in a space of survival. An installation of car seats collected from car owners and mechanic shops with my body wrapped in white cloth resting on a floating raft (intimate voyage).

Performance and installation for exhibition "reinKarnatorx", curated by Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi.

July 25th, 2020 (birthday) virtual performance at crazinisT artisT studiO.

In silence I hibernated, confronted and drawn in the unconscious of mental discomfort of pain by death which now consumed my brain. An uncontrollable moment which torments  and now rules my life draining my energy denying me the privileges and right to live. Just let me understand if this is not an illusion or  mirage of my fear as I'm really messed up in the dilemma  of  hope.

In pain I suffered the unpleasant and rot of life to survive the holocaust of everyday hustling, the nightmare of the nights and the horror of the days I never dream off.  In solitude I breathe speaking in languages which are established as a result of the uncomfortable feeling that ruins my soul leaving me with no chance to illustrate my desires and unhealthy experience. I got trapped in the days that troubled my flesh as constant flashbacks of memories in this confined moment. The hunger of death which awaits to consume my present out of this world. I  have been engulfed in dreams that made me ignorant about what the future holds for me in a world I found myself in. It felt like a dream just to realize I have been born without learning and unlearning my naiveness.

Performing in a skeletal  structure with door and windows housing a grave which has been ruined by nature. With my body coil in a car tyre  suspended on the grave an idea borrowed from a fetus in the womb and childhood experience with found and everyday objects confronting my mortality. A performance of pain and survival with conscious meditation to commemorate my birthday.

July 2020, Virtual Space at crazinisT artisT studiO

When sound collides with the soul touring its adrenaline as a means of exchanging dialogue in defusing any tension that accumulates there in. Excavating its way through tending to neutralize confronting any mood that might be inhabiting or composing it into a new form of interaction. How does music communicate  and relate to our individual emotions? Does one actually need music in  life and at which moment does it resonate with our experience in a given moment of time? 

What happens when sound interferes with the body in performance not to forget our daily live experiences.

Contemplating on these issues is when two bodies happen to meet in the same battle field of ritual performativity, a collaboration which allows them to exchange energy. Ibukun Sunday and Martin Toloku  two performance artists using their body and sound confronting the complexity  of languages that are built through human interaction deconstructing borders of physical and internal conflict. A vehicle that guides fueling and transmitting energies  as an ambient from Ibukun’s sound empowering Martin’s body to evoke the nightmare of death. Flowing on the calibrate is Martin in a dramatic mood possessed as if controlled by a ruling power manifested by the feed from Ibukun’s instrument. Breaking free from a constructed mini house (kiosk) with no ventilation denying him the freedom to survive which he redefined into body movement influenced by traditional masquerade and contemporary dance.

July 7th, 2020, Virtual Space at hexxyduxxybox, India

Yesterday is gone, another day has come that we may encounter a new experience of the world. Tomorrow is coming but I'm not ready to welcome it and I hope you are! The world is changing, adapting to its time with surprises and packages for every living being knocking on your door to remind you of tomorrow, yes tomorrow cause it's gonna come.  A home awaits to usher me in for a family reunion. A room prepared  for my arrival and a bed for an everlasting rest in the bosom of my great great grandparents who can't wait to have me. And yet I'm trapped in oblivion of what and how that journey home will be to free myself from the dystopia of this strange world. Why should it be that I woke up in this world as an immigrant which will not allow me citizenship or even accommodate me for a longer period that I may desire  rather than reminding me of my deportation.  

The fact that we are all going to face our mortality is real and how we are going to make this departure is a puzzle left for everyone to solve. Performing with a direct gaze at a prepared graveyard (with pillow and bed spread) searching for myself, what does that communicate to me? Just to find  a reflection of myself from a broken mirror buried in the grave. 

March 2020, Kumasi.

A public intervention with the bat gang led by artist Lilly Pfalzer as we cuddle in the street and spaces in the Kejetia market and Adum bridge in the capital city of Kumasi. The performance is a form of activism, a dance for love, togetherness, freedom, tolerance and to show that ‘being different is ok’( quote of Austin and Sharon who are part of the group). Performing as a participant and part of the group with other fellows, Sel Kofigah, Theresah Akomfa, Austin Nortey, Julius Yaw Quansah, Sharon Sedem Kamassah, Suleman Awudu and Lilly Pfalzer who developed this project in perfocraZe International Artist Residency (pIAR) Kumasi.

February 2020, Nubuke Foundation, Lome Close Accra.

Trapped in the gaze with so much to consider as they call onto your attention in need of your concern and feedback. You might not want to ignore them for they are also an important part of our lives. That we can not escape but we need them to complete our stories, to reach our destination and to challenge our emotions. They are not easy to understand and endure at some moment ,we might not expect them but they made life complete. Yes we need to sometimes embrace them, then transform them. But one thought that always runs through our minds is "the world between '' that's what we are  trying to explore and experiment with. Trying to reach out to that one moment which is bridged by death very fragile. Just between two different bodies and souls from different parts of the world resting on different axes of the world, a collaboration between Martin Toloku and Lelle Demertzi.

Performance curated by Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi (crazinisT artisT), artistic director of perfocraZe International artist residency (pIAR) Kumasi.

For video of this performance follow the link: https://vimeo.com/407421851