The sculpture Waterfall is dedicated to Oshun, the goddess of the rivers and waterfalls in the Afro-Yoruban culture. Waterfall is a macramé sculpture made of donated, reused and repurposed plastic. Macramé is a form of textile produced using a traditional knotting technique. The reused plastic was donated by several people in the cities of Aalborg and Horsens. The dimensions of the sculpture are 12m x 2m x 1m.

When I was invited to collaborate in the project Expressing Sustainability, I thought that one of my  challenges would be to make an artwork using plastic, the material proposed by the project coordinators. Firstly, because I didn’t like plastic as a material to produce art. Secondly, because I am mainly a performance artist and naturally I would end up creating a costume of plastic and performing in it, but that idea not attractive enough to myself. Being a conceptual artist working under the theme Expressing Sustainability, I wanted to create a strong political concept and an aesthetically impressive artwork.  The public should be able to see it from far away and attracted enough to get close to examine it. Two artworks came to my mind as inspirations, “I AM THE RIVER, 2012” by Eva Koch and “GaiaMotherTree, 2018” by Ernesto Neto. Waterfall is a combination of both artworks. The problem of plastic waste in the nature, specially in the waters over the world also inspired me. I believe that the problem of plastic waste is broadly debated and understood in the international context, also the unfortunate relation between plastic waste and water pollution. I believe that the artworks “I AM THE RIVER” and “Waterfall” have a religious approach to some extent. I experienced Eva’s artwork in a church building that functions as an art hall in Copenhagen. My artwork is dedicated to Oshun, the Yoruban water goddess. Both works attempt to place Nature in a sacred context. Technically and physically, my artwork is mostly inspired by the artwork Ernesto Neto, who uses knotting techniques to create sculptures and installations. The title “waterfall” is also a word play “water + fall” or “what + falls”, in my mind the plastic can also be understood as what falls in the water unfortunately. Furthermore, my sculpture is an attempt to prevent the plastic waste to end up polluting  Nature.

In the Afro-Yoruban tradition Nature is sacred, as well as all elements of it. Many gods are personifications or representations of Nature itself. Oshun is the goddess of rivers and waterfalls and she is also the water itself. She is the movement and the properties of the water herself. Oshun also represents fertility, femininity, beauty, purity and love. Several myths exist concerning Oshun and her significance as a Yoruba deity. In most Yoruba stories, Oshun is generally depicted as the protector, saviour, or nurturer of humanity. Oshun has also been described as the maintainer of spiritual balance or mother of sweet things. Oshun is so important in the Yoruba religion that without her humanity would not exist. Oshun is the water. I wish that all traditions could see water as sacred, as a part of god and as a part of ourselves. I wish that  we all would not allow any waste in Nature.