2005

I met this woman in Niger, West Africa, in a Wodaabi encampment on the edge of the Sahara. She held my hand in hers and seemed to speak to the wind as she looked off into the desert. The environment is called "thornveld" because most of the plants are thorn bushes. I gilded the background to create the feeling of an icon to commemorate her dignity and composure in spite of the harsh conditions of nomadic life. I painted 20 portraits of Wodaabi and Hausa people I met in Niger, and when I sell a painting or print I send money back to support a grain bank there.