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"For Manzoa I went to Jizan, and found the poorest section of this town. The houses I could see had no roofs, and sprayed onto each in red was the word, “Manzoa.” It means this place is about to be demolished. Or in one sense that the thing has already gone."
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"All the houses in this village had been purchased and were about to be destroyed. The people there had been given money in return but they weren’t educated people and now they had spent all their money on qat [the addictive narcotic extremely popular in nearby Yemen]. Once they’d run out of money they began to sell their roofs and their pipes to buy more qat."
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"I went there and decided to paint “Al-Manzoa” onto my shirt. I spent the day there with them. They liked me. They opened their hearts to me. We played football and I moved among them, like a ghost almost. Al-Manzoa."
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"At night this village became the saddest place I have ever known. The children start to cry and howl. There’s no food. The fathers sit there chewing qat. They have no money. They will soon have no home. On their souls I could have written “Manzoa.”"
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"Oh they were happy that I was an artist. They helped me take pictures, they took part, they enjoyed it. At the same time, you know, they would be interested in anything. They were like leaves being carried along in the gutter so when they reach the drain they will hang onto anything."
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"You know what was at the centre of this piece? Chance. I improvised the whole thing. Always rethinking it. And this is so important for me. I have no studio so my studio is wherever I can find people. When I see the opportunity I go. That is my way of thinking about art."
