The artist who wore 24 nappies to highlight sewage pollution — and fell ill

On the Deptford foreshore a ghoulish figure sank into the Thames as performance artist zack mennell waded to their belly button. Their mutant costume, sewn from 24 adult nappies, swelled with water — and waste. The piece, the finale of a project called (para)site, responded to revelations of sewage discharge and to the way benefit claimants are labelled a drain on society; mennell decided, “I’m going to be the parasite.” The performance had a cost: they contracted Weil’s disease from rat urine in the water.

Mennell, who grew up by the chalk pits of Thurrock, describes their work as “a bit weird, a bit intense, a bit silly.” The Thames has been a constant in their life: a place they returned to in dark moments, during sobriety, and in making art, including their latest film, a sea change.

As artist-in-residence at queer season Rat Park, they drenched themselves in a gloopy, lube-like thickening agent to explore pollution and shame, and gathered audiences’ spit as a meditation on community.

England, Deptford

zack mennell, deptford, thames, adult nappies, (para)site, weil's disease, sewage pollution, performance art, rat park, sea change