okra drool

Action, ebo performance, 2019

Okra, small room with water, candle, knives, enin, white voal and a board

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I cut a bag of okra, sitting in the same position I cut for Ṣàngó in the terreiro.

I light a candle, separate 12 large okra.

Calloused fingers, sweat mixes with the vegetable. I compose images with the movement of the body.

I add water and palm oil to the okra – cut in a cross – I mix them with my hands – until a slippery and drooling mass is created.

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Baba de Quiabo is a meticulous gesture, an action with a constant smell, voice choked when murmuring, sounds of silence.Experiment in time.

I take out the ration – double it – and put it away.

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Naked -, I caress my body, bathe myself with the okra drool - slowly - me  cover.

I cover ditches, wounds, holes.

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The body is drooling, slippery, mixed with drool and pieces of okra.

I suggest healing, that the wounds heal. If those who 'eat okra don't get disease', imagine who bathes?! (Hahaha)

Okra drool drains, lubricates  and exfoliates.

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Ebó was part of the show Janeiro has more Arts at SESC Petrolina-PE.

The first experiment of the action was a protest during the conartes, 2018. A plague Ebó.

Photos: Fernando Pereira and Juliano Varela

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