Brexit, Bananas and Performance Art, by artist Bibo Keeley

In this performance-based photograph I am standing at a remote lighthouse in the most North-Easterly point of mainland Scotland and Great Britain. Lighthouses send out warning signals to alert ships to dangerous waters.

I created this performance in 2019, at dawn on the autumn Equinox, a time of balance, when day and night are of equal length. The light of the sunrise exudes optimism, but the wind makes these clifftops a hazardous place. If you are not careful you risk falling into the North Sea 85m below.

The words on my sign are a reference to the satirical poem “Europa” (1932) by German writer and political commentator Kurt Tucholsky (1890 - 1935) and refer to insularism and nationalism. The pacifist and activist who was born into a secular Jewish family, warned against anti-democratic tendencies, sensing the growing dangers of the political right.

My work is featured in the current Wasps* Annual Report and was also covered in an article/ radio interview on Deutschlandfunk (Germany’s public broadcasting service equivalent of the BBC) on Art, Brexit and Being European in Scotland.

*Workshop & Artists Studio Provision Scotland