Jess Atieno

Born Kenya (1991), lives and works in Nairobi, Kenya and Chicago, USA

730 Servings of Yesterday’s Terror 2019
Installation made of gypsum plaster and of variable dimensions
Courtesy of the artist

During her month long (roughly 730 hours) stay as the resident artist for the Lagos Biennial 2019, Atieno immersed herself in the experience and occupation of a new space both physically and mentally. She developed somewhat of a routine in a schedule of set activities: when to wake up, eat, work, sleep, read, work and walk. Atieno exposed herself to these conditions repetitively, almost as ritual over the entire duration of the residency.

The premise of this departs from an essay by James Baldwin titled ‘The Creative Process’ found in the altogether fantastic anthology, The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction. He writes: “Perhaps the primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid: the state of being alone. That all men are, when the ships are down, alone, is a banality – a banality because it is very frequently stated, but very rarely, on the evidence, believed. Most of us are not compelled to linger with the knowledge of our aloneness, for it is a knowledge that can paralyze all action in this world. There are forever, swamps to be drained, cities to be created, mines to be exploited, children to be fed. None of these things can be done alone. But the conquest of the physical world is not man’s only duty. He is also enjoined to conquer the great wilderness of himself.”

For Atieno, the prolonged repetition of the daily activities of the residency was in itself revealing of the nature and challenges we face in the way in which we inhabit, experience and confront the daily realities of inhabiting self and space.