Jelili Atiku, The Red Day, installation view, Eva Maria Ocherbauer 2017.
Born Ejigbo, Nigeria (1968), works and lives in Lagos, Nigeria
The Red Day 2017
as part of In The Red (2008 – ongoing)
performance and installation with red textiles, plastic gloves, paper, red paint
Courtesy of the artist
The performance The Red Day is the 17th iteration of my ongoing performance project titled In The Red. Initiated in 2008, In The Red addresses the subject of global warfare and violence, and the human impulses behind these ugly events. Unquantifiable amounts of blood have been spilled on this earth; thus, humanity is mummified in red and jumps in horror here and there. In The Red adopts and uses the shroud, the color red and historical and contemporary narratives of war as materials that symbolize life, suffering, danger and destruction.
Wrapping the human body with red cloth in the performance casts the performer as a victim of these harsh realities. Working through spontaneous and improvised actions, In The Red expresses outrage in the face of calamitous events in our world including those currently affecting France, Mali, Nigeria and Kenya. The project believes that by lending voice to the psychological and physical effects of these moments, it becomes clear that humanity in our modern era is veering down the path of extinction.
The Red Day in the Lagos Biennial will contextualise the Nigerian-Biafran experiences and references the popular slogan, Ija Ore, Oleeku, which literally means ‘the fight in Ore was intense and deadly’.
