I was born in Africa, and have often been asked what aspects of my performance relate to my country of birth and its culture. I believe it is a question of engagement and authenticity: in black Africa, art objects such as masks or fetishes - as well ascertain dances - are acts of survival in order to connect with the spirits, to ask their favor. I don't believe in spirits or other worlds, but conversely for me a performance is a vital gesture in that it represents a means to question my identity in the world. I want to reveal all the enigma of a face, and thus of the Being which animates it. For me, disfigurement in art isn't a hostile act towards life: conversely, the effacement is a measure of loss and the transformation a measure of strength.
