| The artist:
'This painting represents Africa to me: Colourful. Simple. Perfect,
even with it's imperfections - as depicted in earthen colours contrasting
with bright colours, and uneven lines and endings. It is also
childlike, if you wish, in some ways, thence the simplicity of pattern
around the borders of the painting. At the same time there are very
complex yet regulated areas in the societies of all of Africa, areas
that overlap - culturally, socially, politically, economically,
historically - depicted graphically in the painting. There are stark
contrasts throughout, in wealth, wisdom and being world wise. There
are also strong ancestral beliefs - all factors that influence
and add texture to the earthen coloured richness of the African
life. Beliefs in the powers of the ancestors are vibrantly present
throughout Africa, and those have been interwoven in the painting -
ancestral eyes watching, symbolic icons of either good or bad luck -
again, merging subtly, as subtle as to be nearly non-existent
to the eye of the mere passer by. There is also the historical
philosophical acceptance of: what can't be changed, must be accepted
/ tolerated - illustrated by the use of texture in the painting.
Overall, there is also, in this painting, the joy of life, of being alive,
of surviving, of appreciating nature and of being part of the drum- and
heart beat of Africa.'
('I could go on and on and on - each
line, colour, texture, hue or nuance says something specific to me - be it
a memory, a feeling, a thought, dream, wish or just simply an observation
or conclusion I've come to, over the years. The overriding emotion
in me, while I was painting it, was the joy of knowing that I share that
vibrancy, that the African drums are still throbbing in my every
heartbeat, and that the continent has given back to me, on this
visit, something which I'd thought I'd lost forever.)
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