Ayọ̀ Akínwándé
Sweet Ass, Swiss Alps
Zurich, Switzerland
December 2020
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 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.
Sweet Ass, Swiss Alps is a new performance through photography, bordering on a dialogue on(with) identity, race, politics, and geography, conveyed on the clouds of activism. When in the West, we learn to be discreet, to try to blend in and not be ‘too African’. In this series, I place myself in the centre, turning my back to the camera, dominating.
This project was created as part of an international artist residence Gastatelier Gleis70, Zurich, Switzerland (1st October – 31st December 2020)
Project Assistant: Carla Schleiffer