On the mountaintop, we will have watermelon…

We must imagine Sisyphus happy. We must imagine the watermelon free. We must keep building a table with enough space for everyone to enjoy a slice.

On 16 February 2024 Huge Sillytoe pushed a 30 kilogram watermelon uphill along the ground from the city of La Paz to the city of El Alto in the Bolivian Andes. During the course of the day they pushed the watermelon hunched over or on their knees from an altitude of 3640 metres above sea level to 4150 metres above sea level, taking a little over nine hours to do so.

Whilst they pushed the watermelon uphill on ground where not so long ago European colonizers murdered and enslaved indigenous populations, and whose violence can still be deeply felt in so many ways, countless bombs fell on Gaza, as they had relentlessly for many preceding months… On the route Huge encountered many bones chewed and left by street dogs and took a moment to hold each bone in their hands and to cry for all those whose right to feel, to touch, to breathe has been taken from them.

Special thanks to the woman who offered to help carry the watermelon, the man who stopped traffic so that I could cross a busy road, the dogs that howled in solidarity, and to Hiperactiva Lab and Cooperativa Visual for support as artist in residence in La Paz.

Photos and videos: Araceli Gomez Cañipa and Camila Soliz Aguirre.