Following a body of research into supervillains of antiquity (colonial merchants, slave traders, and industrialists), the present (billionaire profiteers of extractive neo-colonial practices such as mining and waste dumping), and the future (colonisers of as-yet-unknown territories such as space and the deep sea), Lean Six Sigma speculates on the opulent ornamentation of these villains’ lairs.
The work looks at opulence as a display of oligarchic overindulgence from a privileged few, distorting and multiplying the shapes of extractive industrial machinery, and the interior aesthetics of dictators’ homes and private jets. However, it also celebrates opulence as a means of Black resistance and Black joy. Lean Six Sigma flickers with formative memories of the artist’s Cameroonian immigrant aunties and uncles’ glamorously decorated homes, and the ostentatious personal styles of Black female rappers, chiefly Lil’ Kim.