This performance is inspired by a local saying from the area where Ahmed grew up. Used to express the disappointment and frustration that relatives can cause. In essence, it could be translated as: "Sometimes it is better to have relatives in clay than in the flesh".
Ahmed reuses this metaphor to express his experience as he announced his coming out as a gay man.
Pour TRANSFORM!, Umar convie le public à se salir les doigts (Mmmm…) lors d’un atelier de création de personnages en argile. À l’issue de cet atelier, l’artiste donnera vie à ces personnages qui constituent l’élément phare de sa performance.
![](https://www.festival-transform.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/if-you-no-longer-have-a-family-make-your-own-in-clay-x-ahmed-umar-2048x1294.jpg)