The Mosquito Man  (Moskeeto™ Man )
(Though the mosquito is small in size, its presence and potentially fatal effects are enormous)

Because the mosquito is practically invisible due to its size, its presence and fatal effect have become a background conversation.  With the expertise of internationally acclaimed makeup and special effects artists, we have created an emotionless, yet disturbing character called The Mosquito man: (Mrs. Malaria) (queen malaria) The Real Vampire. With a hyper-realistic human size mosquito prosthetic mask, we will be injecting this character into 4 major installations so that people are not only aware, but also disturbed by her presence — reminding them that this feeling of disturbia is an everyday occurrence.

Piece 1: The Madonna and Child - “Mother Africa cries over her lost children” The conversation is not just every 45 seconds a child dies from malaria but every 45 seconds a mother loses a child to malaria…The impact is greater to the social and family dynamic people need to see the verberating effects and the devastating effects the remain behind when that child dies.
Inspired by the iconoclastic Roman marble statue the Pieta, by Michelangelo,  we are going to create a living sculpture of a African mother figure holding the dead figure of her adolescent child in her lap, on looking with grief and remorse.  The figure will be realistically body painted and draped in painted fabric to simulate stone.  Replacing the stigmata, the child will be speckled in mosquito bites.  The installation will be presented in the highly populated Shoprite Plaza Mall near Lekki Phase 1 in Lagos on Sunday April 19, 2015.  Placed strategically near by, integrated in the crowd this piece will assuredly attract, will be several casually dressed civilians in the Mosquito man masks. The intended impact is to connect to all mothers who lose children to malaria on a daily basis, while eerily making people aware of its tragic impact by the ever-present mosquito.  The fact “ Every 45 seconds a mother buries her child from malaria.” Will also be visibly present. This jarring image we project will not only raise awareness through traffic in the mall, but also spread on social media, and attract local news syndicates to take the message even further.

Piece 2: Malaria Moves-
Taking the literal idea of movement, our second installation will portray the vast speed at which malaria takes hold of its victims, as well as the mobility the mosquito and the disease has within a society. Starting at a renowned location, we will have a group of varying aged performers, from childhood to adulthood, representing the several progressive stages of malaria. The range will cover normal (reservoirs), to weak and sick, to death. Death will be portrayed with a literal skeleton face while weak and sick will be done with exaggerated FX makeup. This group will travel with a few mosquito men in the highly recognizable 16 passenger white bus that any Nigerian would recognize from highway traffic.  Strategically we will move from Lekki to the Mainland, stopping at popular locations, having the mosquito men create an eerie ominous feeling around the infected characters. The fact “ Mosquitoes that carry malaria start biting at 4:30 pm.” Will be present on signage as well as…..

Piece 3: A Thousand Children a Day-
Within the Makoko Village in Lagos, there are not only houses, but a school that resides upon the water by the third mainland bridge. We want to fiercely hit people with the morosely jarring fact that Malaria kills 1,000 children a day in Nigeria. But we wanted to portray this not only in an interesting esthetic way, but connect to the mosquito’s comfortable habitat which is by the water.  We want to literally impact the magnitude by having the children of the Makoko community come to the waterfront, lay flat in the boats and play dead.  We would strategically place these boats in a formation so that an aerial photograph can be shot from above to capture the sheer magnitude of 1000 children.  The boats would be steered by the familiar mosquito men, as they seemingly row the children into the afterlife.  This shot would most likely be taken weeks prior but released the Friday before Malaria Day.

Piece 4: The Real Vampire- CLOSING PIECE-localizes the conversation throughout all of Nigeria ...through the organization of the citizens club a massive logistical undertaking will transform the landscape of the malaria conversation.
Sponsored by the Citizen Club of Nigeria, the finale of our project looks to take on a national scale where over 185 of our “Moskeeto Men” pop up in every city of Nigeria, as everyday regular people, integrated into society. These characters will create a buzz, and speak to how the mosquito is everywhere, where we least expect it.  Through the citizens club we will even visit the President and first lady to show there are no prejudices amongst the people… even the highest of class and standard will get infected.  This press opportunity will spread on social media and throughout newspapers and print media.