La Estatua - The Statue

In my 20s I lived in Mexico City and performed this seminal work over a period of 2 years. It was hugely influential for me and is the bedrock of my practice today. My work is about being present, being in the moment.

I would spend between 3 and 5 hours as the statue and most of that time I was barely moving, just occasionally making a simple gesture such as extending my hands – giving and at the same time receiving.

I had a plant known as the Rose of Jericho (or the Resurrection Plant) with me during each performance and I would place it in a bowl of water by the side of me. The Jericho Rose grows in dry deserts where it can survive, even when there is no water available for years at a stretch. It curls in on itself, forming a little tumbleweed-like ball. As soon as there is water available, the plant unfurls, with soft, green fronds within 3-4 hours. It seems to go from death to life as if by magic.

In the performance, I would paint my face and body with clay to become something else, like the dried-up plant. People would gather around me and talk about me as if I wasn’t there. Forgetting I was a real living person who existed. To them, I had become the statue. This allowed me to completely switch off from being there while at the same time enabling me to connect with them fully on another level. The flower’s ressurection back to life symbolised the process of me slowly coming to life, shedding my clay covered costume to reveal me as a man.

To do this over a period of 2 years was a wonderful experience. I became part of the community, surrounded by indigenous people who worked on the streets, selling food and newspapers etc. I created a relationship with them and their children and I started to paint the children’s faces in the same way as mine. I would earn some money, buy bread and then I would go back and share it with the people there.

I went on to explore other situations and experiment with La Estatua as the last two photographs show.