Each teardrop has its own eyes; every onion must fight the good fight

A gigantic red face unhooks itself from its exhibition spot in HOF Gallery Kibera and wanders outside, licking everyone in its path. Upon return to the gallery, two fist-sized fabric puppets burst forth from the giant red face’s multi-coloured lips and begin to sing operatically. These puppets are in the hands of a living pile of fabric slowly born from inside the giant face, itself made from recycled textile scraps. Once free, the living fabric clump undoes the puppets’ stitching, their song slowly fading as the fabric slips away revealing an onion hidden inside each puppet. The living clump of fabric fumbles for an opening too, finally finds a zip, opens up to reveal the artist wearing a thong mask and a face mask. The onions are wearing matching underwear. The onions and artist twerk together. A layer is removed from each onion, a face is drawn onto the separated layers and taped to the artist’s body. The onions and pens are passed to the audience to invite them to remove further layers, draw further faces, and tape the onion-faces to the artist’s body. The gallery fills with the aroma of raw onion. As the last layer of onion is drawn upon and taped to the artist’s body, they share the tale of the endless tower of balanced onions balanced on the snout of a seal who is swimming through outer space. We must juggle onions for eternity.

Performance produced on the occasion of the opening of the ‘Beyond Garment’ group exhibition with Upendo Mkonya/Lavo Hands, Mtu Loko, Miss Wambale, and Paula Angar at HOF Gallery following the Kijana Textile Arts Collaborative Residency in Kibera Arts District, Nairobi, September 2025.