Performance project

I grew up influenced by Chinese children’s books and have always been interested in them. While studying art in Germany, I also read some German children’s books. My performance art project “Playing with Me” is an ongoing project which includes the creation of children’s books with illustrations.

The families that participated in this performance art project are:

The Petra Ramirez family, with their daughter Nicauri (Germany and South Africa)

The Janika Scholz family, with their daughter Lynn (Germany)

The Yvonne Menga family, with their daughter Siara (Ghana and Germany)

The Rudorwashe Moyo family, with their daughter Paulina (Zimbabwe and Nigeria)

The Nizar Fahem family, with their daughter Meriam (Tunisia) 

These families were chosen for this project because most of the parents came from abroad and immigrated to Germany. I was curious about how children grow up in multicultural families. 

This work began at the end of November 2021, when I met regularly with these families living in Braunschweig. Each meeting lasted two hours, with four to six meetings for each family. 

I got a rough idea of the parents and the children in the first meeting. In later meetings, I would usually play and chat with the children individually and sometimes talk to the parents too. While we played and chatted, I gained a deep understanding of the children’s personalities, aspirations and dreams. 

Afterwards, I collaborated with illustration artist and author J. B. Kuck to draft five children’s books based on the children’s stories and characteristics.