benzinLAB

Josephine Sassu

LOCATION
oslo, norway

TITLE
somebody

MEDIUM 
wood

Referring to the last tramway’s blue tainted taillight, indicating that this is your last chance to get home. Do you run to get it, or do you choose to stay?

“I chose to contribute somebody, a relatively sculptural piece of furniture I built as an answer to your question. Sometimes it is not easy to decide whether to stay or to move on and go home. Somebody represents this feeling in my eyes, the feeling of being torn between two directions. In this case the decision has no big impact, we might ask ourselves this question multiple times a week. Yet it is something to think about. With feet pointing in opposite directions, this chair will not provide you any answers but it will give you a place to sit down for a while and think about where you want to go.”

New flowers
You were wearing that blanket-like poncho with the white horses and only a pair of boxers beneath and I was wearing a big linen shirt in your favourite colour, brown, when we watched the house in Nørrebro burn down and then we went to your place and did not talk much and you put on Connan Mockasin and after the first song we had sex and later we went out on your balcony and sat there next to the dead plants with brown leaves falling on brown floor and you were wearing an old cat lady’s jacket, brown with fine creme coloured stripes, and the worst boxer short I had ever seen at that time, longing your hand in from time to time and we watched the people in the house on the other side of the street watering their plants and smoking cigarettes.
So you stood there with my pink hat and the brown jacket on which was a bit too tight for your shoulders and a bit too short and I could see your belly and your hair with a tender red reflection and the mark from spilling boiling water on your tummy the day before. You stood there, watching me with eyes of warm pleasure, the flower pot lady next to her dead flowers which is a bit funny cause you used to be known for making shirts saying New Flowers. Maybe because you never water the flowers you already have.
I saw that you have been keeping the painting I made you a long time ago when I moved to Denmark and you were the first stop on my journey through the new life I started at that point. The Connan Mockasin concert was over and now we sat there waiting which would be the next song played on this warm, warm July afternoon when we watched a house burn down a few blocks away. I never made my mind up if people died that day in this house, it seemed to have a big potential for a serious tragedy. We said goodbye, goodbye you fool, and I knew that we would not see again for a long while and that I was now part of your balcony girl collection. I also knew that you will not have watered your plants until we see again. And so we took the 5C in opposite directions, you to meet your dad and me back home.
Josephine Sassu