Shrines

Working at the Ballermann also means being visible in a special way. While the performances of the visitors are an essential part of everyday practice in public spaces (such as clubs and at the beach), the staff working in more secluded, largely invisible spaces (such as toilets) create their own performances and turn the private into something public. Instead of being silent and invisible, the Nigerian women working as cleaning staff interact with the tourists by singing and joking, and by offering perfumes, deodorants or sweets to them. Assuming the role of mothering figures, they create an ambiguousimage of Mami Wata and her altars. The equipment of their shrines needs to be carefully watched over, because their customers sometimes steal money, perfumes or deodorants. After several research stays, we also discovered other shrines which only became visible at second or third glance.