dontdiemyfriendtommy was premiered in Maus Hábitos(Porto, Portugal) in 2006, supported by 555. Afterwards represented in:
+Espaço de Alakntara/Festa da Dança in Lisbon, Portugal - 2008
+Galeria Miejska/Mandala Peformance Festival in Wroclaw, Poland - 2009
Introduction
dontdiemyfriendtommy is a performance piece about homelessness and poverty, based on the personal experience of the artist himself. In London, winter, Hajime Fujita was sleeping on the street and met one homelessness from Skotland. dontdiemyfriendtommy describes how the problems of homeless and poverty are complex in our society, according to ritual actions and storytelling.
Photos
Text
Last week, I was in London. It was terrible days. I could not find any place to stay for 2 nights, and I was sleeping on the street that 2 nights. The temperature on the morning in London was extremely cold for my body without any blanket either sleeping bag. I was lying down on the cardboard, shaking and thinking that “why I am here in this such a difficult situation...?” The answer was not coming up, but so many memories of my childhood was circling in my head.
And I encountered one homeless person, Tommy, seemed over 40 years old, coming from Scotland to look for a job. He told me his story and how he is living there. He had a job in Scotland then, even had a SUZUKI-4WD. But one day the company cut him off, then he could not pay for his house any more. He had bought a train ticket with100 pounds and got to London 4 weeks ago. However, he has not been able to get a job, because none of companies employ a person who can not prove where he/she lives. So he has no way to escape from his situation.? He said, “I saw so many homeless people here in London. Some of them have been living more than 10 or 20 years as homeless. And most of them are alcoholics. I may be so too someday...” The government of UK just supports him small money to eat, not to live some place.