The painting shows Maasai women gathering under an acacia tree, with Kilimanjaro towering behind them I recently celebrated my birthday, and my husband gave me a wonderful gift of another original piece of East African art. (For a previous post on my favourite piece - which my husband gave to me for my birthday 5 years ago - you can click here).
This piece is by an East African artist by the name of E. Atatnas, whose work is stocked in a local art shop in the city – a shop which we’ve supported for many years now (the next time I’m in the shop, I hope to find out more about the artist who painted this piece and if I do, I’ll update this blog post).
My husband says that he chose this particular painting because it has Kilimanjaro in the background, and it ‘jumped out’ at him. I love it not only because of the mountain, but also because it reflects a part of the traditional Maasai tribal lifestyle here in East Africa – Maasai women in their traditional dress (note the colourful beaded necklaces they are wearing), with some carrying beaded gourds and resting under the shade of an acacia (thorn) tree.
In African tribal life, it is a women’s daily job to gather firewood (used for cooking) and to collect water (used for bathing & washing) for the family home. The gourds which you see some of the women carrying in the painting are typically used for milk, grain or water storage. It is not uncommon, as you are driving along a rural road here, to see groups of women walking through the bush together with bundles of firewood in their arms, or containers of water on their heads.
How much we take for granted – heat at the flick of a switch, water at the turn of a tap – when there are still women, in the year 2009, who live in homes without electricity or water – it seems unbelievable, almost !
I look at this painting and I like to imagine that the women in it are taking a break underneath that acacia tree. A much needed rest from their daily toils and struggles to just chat amongst themselves …. and although there are no shopping malls, leisurely lunches, ladies nights or book club gatherings in their community, the universal language of women – our hopes, fears and dreams – at the end of the day, when everything else is stripped bare, are pretty much the same. Don’t you agree ?
(If you’d like to read a post I wrote last year about Suzy, a wonderful Maasai woman who is trying to break the cycle of poverty and change the lives of other Maasai women, then you can read that over here.)
This piece is by an East African artist by the name of E. Atatnas, whose work is stocked in a local art shop in the city – a shop which we’ve supported for many years now (the next time I’m in the shop, I hope to find out more about the artist who painted this piece and if I do, I’ll update this blog post).
My husband says that he chose this particular painting because it has Kilimanjaro in the background, and it ‘jumped out’ at him. I love it not only because of the mountain, but also because it reflects a part of the traditional Maasai tribal lifestyle here in East Africa – Maasai women in their traditional dress (note the colourful beaded necklaces they are wearing), with some carrying beaded gourds and resting under the shade of an acacia (thorn) tree.
In African tribal life, it is a women’s daily job to gather firewood (used for cooking) and to collect water (used for bathing & washing) for the family home. The gourds which you see some of the women carrying in the painting are typically used for milk, grain or water storage. It is not uncommon, as you are driving along a rural road here, to see groups of women walking through the bush together with bundles of firewood in their arms, or containers of water on their heads.
How much we take for granted – heat at the flick of a switch, water at the turn of a tap – when there are still women, in the year 2009, who live in homes without electricity or water – it seems unbelievable, almost !
I look at this painting and I like to imagine that the women in it are taking a break underneath that acacia tree. A much needed rest from their daily toils and struggles to just chat amongst themselves …. and although there are no shopping malls, leisurely lunches, ladies nights or book club gatherings in their community, the universal language of women – our hopes, fears and dreams – at the end of the day, when everything else is stripped bare, are pretty much the same. Don’t you agree ?
(If you’d like to read a post I wrote last year about Suzy, a wonderful Maasai woman who is trying to break the cycle of poverty and change the lives of other Maasai women, then you can read that over here.)
