FRESH PRODUCE

We were driving on a sand track in a remote region of the Sao Sabastiao peninsula in Mozambique when we came across this couple on their way to market. They are subsistence farmers, and he had a pole across his shoulders from which hung some ten or fifteen live chickens; his wife had two goats on ropes that were dancing and jumping around her. We gave them a lift on the back of the truck, and people nestled in surrounded by squawking chickens with bright glossy feathers, and very active rope dancing goats. The images around the painting are creatures that share the subsistence environment, and who may also represent produce gathered for the market place.

Mahale Footpath

43x63" or 109x160cms oil on canvas

Mahale forest is a Game Reserve on the shores of Lake Tanganyka in Tanzania. It is one of the last refuges of wild chimpanzees in Africa, but hemmed in by human populations who compete for use of the forest. The precipitous mountains however ensure that much of the reserve stays inaccessible to humans, thus preserving some habitat for the chimpanzees.




The forest is richly abundant in plant, insects invertebrates birds and small mammals - many of whom are food sources for the chimpanzees and people.