In the early hours of a Friday morning, before the rush hour traffic at Berger and Wuse Market, a group of young people, made their way briskly from Utako market to their destination – Wuse Market. Their trek is intermittently halted for the group to pin wastes on the central figure, a young dancer, Oluwabukunmi Olukitibi in tailored pant and buba made of cement bags.
Olukitibi, an Abuja-based artiste, is exploring humans (Nigerians) relationship with mother earth, around three philosophies – “from dust we come, to dust we return”, shock, and the Aiyeloja principle – “the world is a marketplace.”
With the performance she questions, “If humans were earth, what would it look like?” “If I were earth, or the earth is a loved one or someone I admire, how would I treat that person? Would I drop trash on them or on myself? Since earth is where I live, the planet that holds me and my dreams why treat it lesser than I’d treat myself, a sibling or a friend?”
