Before and After George

Before and After George is a performance work lasting seven hours where tattoo artists from around the world tattoo  performance artist, Ivan Lupi's face, head, and neck at no cost to the artist. Each tattoo bears the name of an African American killed by police, taken from public, ore removed from official documentation.

The tattoos are executed without stencils, creating unrepeatable, hand-drawn memorials that become part of the performer’s body. Through this accumulating physical archive, the work transforms personal flesh into public testimony, making visible names that deserve to be remembered. The performance challenges audiences to confront both systemic violence and the power of a collective artistic witness.

This work speaks directly to contemporary conversations about justice and memory while honouring the craft tradition of tattooing as a form of permanent storytelling etched into skin.

About The Artist

Ivan Lupi holds a Masters in Queer Studies in Arts and Culture from Birmingham University. Since 2001 Lupi has been an active member of the collective Amae with which he has taken part in various collaborations and exhibitions in Asia, Europe and the United Kingdom. Since 2016 Lupi started performing solo, showing his work in Switzerland, Lithuania, United States, India, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Works include ‘The Voice and the Lens’ – Whitechapel Art Gallery (London 2014), ‘The Slip of the Tongue’ – Palazzo Grassi Punta della Dogana (Venice 2015), ‘Transformations’ by LiVEART.US – Queens Museum (New York 2016), ‘Visualeyez Annual Festival of Performance art’ – Latitude 53 Art Gallery (Edmonton 2017), ‘Performance Art Week Aotearoa’ (Wellington 2018), ‘Performance Arcade’ (Wellington 2019), ‘Towards the Forest’ – The Vivian gallery (Matakana 2019), ‘WTF!?’ – Museum of Transport and Technology (Auckland 2019), ‘Auckland Pride Festival’ – The Audio Foundation (Auckland, 2021), ‘Midsumma Festival’ – Testing Grounds (Melbourne, 2023) and 'Not as simple as it sounds' (Te Matatiki Toi Ora, The Arts Centre, 2024).