FILIPINO WOMEN WASHING SOY SAUCE OFF THE ITALIAN FLAG
VIVA Performance, Cosenza [2012]
Materials: advertising stand, Italian flag, soy sauce dripping made in Philippines, chlorine, rubber gloves, sponge, 2 Filipinas, 2 Filipino passports.
Confiscating the passport of the migrant caretaker is a common practice among employers, to prevent smuggling. With their passport, the migrant has their freedom of mobility, of identity and of dignity confiscated.
Two Filipinas are displaced from their usual work place into a supermarket. Their action of continuously cleaning soy sauce drips from an Italian flag resembles to a marketing manoeuvre that attracts the attention of the consumer onto a specific product. The product, though, is missing from the display. It is, instead, replaced by two original passports.
Action by Ioana Paun in collaboration with migrant women (choosing to stay anonymous). Part of Viva Performance Lab, curated by Tania Bruguera and Cristiana Parrella and supported by National Museum of 21st century art.
Happening inside the central hypermarket in Cosenza.
