LIBERIA
I was fortunate to go to Liberia with my husband (who had made previous trips there as part of his work) It was intimidating as they took away your passport and kept it until you left. We were at a mining site - someone obtained a driver and a car for me as they felt it was a must that I go into the jungle to see people who had not been corrupted by life in a town or city. I found the village chief and obtained his permission to do charcoal portraits - I left most of them with the people I drew - I do not think they had ever seen anyone draw faces before and they were very anxious to be drawn or to watch the process.
Daily I went down to the area of the mine site where the workers went for meals. They lined up to have their portraits done - I also did oil paintings on the site. I gave a silver dollar to anyone who was in an oil painting. They would pose briefly for me while they were working. I had to work quickly. When we first arrived at the mine site the workers said "morning boss man" to my husband - later they ignored him and said "Morning missy" to me as they were keen to have their portraits done during the lunch break.
Where ever I painted or did a drawing a crowd gathered. One could not afford to be shy.
It was so different from anything I had experienced before so was a challenge to know how to record what I saw - Oh how I wished my skills had been better.
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This was their market I was shocked at how little they had to sell - A baby screamed in fright when she saw me - a white woman with white hair. The women thought this was really funny. |
One of the charcoal drawings that I kept
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The mothers seemed to be children themselves I kept the oil paintings - they were done on site.
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Women waiting for customers for lunch The workers did not eat with the staff officials
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As I did portraits a chant would start up in the crowd when I got to the stage where the person was recognizable - the chant was "Same thing - Same thing"
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This man was a fairly new arrival from "America" and his features were very different from the people that I saw that had been born in Liberia (Liberia was populated by freed slaves from America)
Since my visit there was a huge uprising and slaughter of people |
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When we left we had an armed guard accompany us to the airport from the remote mine site. After our departure from Liberia there was an armed uprising and many people were slaughtered. |
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