Keeping my Hands Busy

Since I'm still walking around Mali in a daze, just absorbing this new environment, I haven't spent too much time working on any major art projects. I did do a few small sculptures made from our water bottles, of which we have plenty. They're so pristine and perfect and completely out of character of anything here. But I think that's why I made them; in a city with open sewers and no trash collection services, I needed to create something clean and elegant.

My Malian professor, Sekou, asked a good question as I was sitting on the balcony sewing these together: What are you going to use them for?

It's a question I always ask my self and it's even more relevant here where there are few formal gallery and museum venues for more conceptual/abstract art. In Mali, there's always a function or purpose for their art and I hope I can find mine here as well.