“What have I done to you?” is an interactive performance that lasts between one and four hours. During the performance, the artist, dressed as a soldier in a British camouflage military uniform, washes and wipes the feet of participants while they write down their thoughts and personal details such as their name, date, time, location and approximate temperature on paper.

Washing someone’s feet can suggest service, respect, power or even subversion. In India, touching the feet of elders is a gesture of reverence, where the younger person seeks blessings from someone older and more experienced. In some cultures, feet are seen as unclean, which is why they must be washed before entering certain religious spaces. The title refers to the words spoken by Jesus to his twelve disciples before his arrest and crucifixion. He washed each disciple’s feet, including that of his betrayer, and asked them to do the same.

The performance reflects the forgotten and unconditional service of Indian soldiers alongside other colonial armies during the World Wars. They served the Empire with loyalty and, metaphorically, washed away the political conflicts created by Western governments. However, the work goes beyond the physical act of washing feet. The presence of the artist as a silent soldier creates different reactions in participants. His ethnicity, physical build and silence may evoke fear, doubt, curiosity or even amusement. As the performance unfolds, power shifts between the washer and the washed. Participants may feel vulnerable as they write while their feet are being cleaned. Through this simple act, the work raises questions about power, service, dominance and the relationship between the British and their colonial soldiers, as well as between the self and the other.

“What have I done to you?”, was developed during Baptist Coelho’s Artist-in-Residence, supported by and at the Delfina Foundation, London, 2011-12. The residency was also supported by Creative India Foundation, Hyderabad; Pump House Gallery, London. In 2011, the performance was first realised at Pump House Gallery, London. In 2013, the audio/video recording of the performance was first screened as part of the artist’s touring solo screening, “under my skin… under your skin” at Nepal Bharat Library, Kathmandu. The screening was curated by Lina Vincent Sunish.