Ayọ̀ Akínwándé

Ayọ̀ Akínwándé
Joker
Zurich, Switzerland
December 2020

Joker is a performance piece that continues my dialogue with identity, race, politics, using cinema as a starting point. In this series, race is put on trials; the black skin, is placed on the electric chair, the lights are on, and it’s action time. 

This project speaks to a myriad of issues and draws reference from multiple sources. 

For historical reference, the story of the execution of the 14 year old African American George Junius Stinney in South Carolina in 1944

For Current events: The killings across Nigeria, in Cameroon, Uganda, and other parts of the African Continent. Black Lives Matter protests, and the Police Brutality protests in other parts of the world. 

For self-portraiture, Edson Chagas “Oikonomos” photograhic series is one of my visual reference points. And with cinema, the movies; Monster’s Ball (2001) and Resident Evil (2002) were part of my thoughts process

The performance was enacted inside the lift in my residency studio building on Hermetschloostrasse 70 Zürich. 

Artist Statement

There is a kind of ‘bubble’ in being at home. In Nigeria, I am not African; I’m Nigerian, Yorùbá, Artist, Son, and Brother. The reality of international residencies in Europe, as a Nigerian, is the sudden morph into being African, or just Black. Immersed in the politics of imperialism, a study of materiality, of regional politics, as an artist, one can quite quickly become overwhelmed by being Black in Europe. Switzerland, no less! 

I arrived in Switzerland at a time of a ‘new wave’ of global conversation about blackness - the very general kind of Blackness. But whilst here, my country was in crisis. With the now internationally recognized #EndSars protests at their peak, I was on international residency - I couldn’t ‘stand up’ for my country. I could only engage with these events with my works here.

I came to Zurich with the idea of shooting my ass on the Swiss Alps – the peak of whiteness. I imagined myself as ‘contaminating’ this whiteness, literally, metaphorically, and figuratively.

This performance was created during an International Artist Residency at Gastatelier Gleis70 in Zürich, Switzerland (1st October – 31st December 2020).
Project assistant: Bruno Alder.