lightning let the custard flow

The story of Chaac the rain deity within Mayan mythology using their lightning axe to open up the mountain within which corn was found is reinterpreted in the distant context of the mountains of Lesotho. Chalks dangling on strings from the artist’s fingers are used to tap messages onto slates – a code revealing that the nearby mountains are full of custard. The worms on the custard filled mountains grow big and fat and do not want to share with the hungry worms below. The greedy worms build walls of cardboard boxes to keep the hungry worms out, lined with machine guns. The hungry worms make a pact with the storm-clouds and lightning crashes down upon the mountain, opening it up into a volcano of custard raining down on the land. Produced on the occasion of an invitation to collaborate on a series of experimental cabarets at cultural centres across Lesotho by Maseru-based artist Thabiso Montse in May 2025. Informed by work as artist in residence at Wits School of Arts and Johannesburg Lightning Research Laboratory, University of the Witwatersrand.

Photos: Susanna Fazio.