Naufus Ramírez Figueroa

In his performances, the Guatemalan artist Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa works with stories of violence from his home country. As a child he went into exile with his family in Canada, fleeing guerilla violence. Ramírez-Figueroa also works with the memory of several generations of his ancestors who worked on banana plantations and endured very hard living conditions. In his performance Para ti el banano madura al peso de tu dulce amor (‘The banana ripens for you under the weight of your sweet love’), carried out in 2008, Ramírez-Figueroa slept holding a huge bunch of bananas for two weeks in a space in the gallery which commissioned the piece. 

With the passing of time and the warmth of his body, the bananas ripened to the point of being ready to eat, at which point the artist shared them with spectators in the gallery. Through this work the artist questions how Central America’s economic dependence on the banana market dominated by the USA has affected the psyche and ethos of the region’s inhabitants.