In my Father`s house (The Pencil Test Series # 4)

Performance at the opening of the Venice Biennale, 2003

Video on DVD

Here I used the pencils as extensions of my hair and my fingers. I also drew a sharp black line on my body separating my supposed ‘African’ head (the top half of me was painted black) from my ‘white/European’ body. I performed a ritual that combined sound (screaming, making abstract animal like noises) and movement – writing with the pencils in flour (with the extensions on my hands and hair), throwing myself in the air and creating clouds by throwing the flour into the gentle breeze.