Tudor Creek Dancer
2004
Oils on Wood
Notes
This is one of my favourite pieces. The canoe from which it comes was found in a small fishing village near a place called Tudor in Mombasa . All the canoes here are small and simple and are pointed at both ends and are known as “vihori”. The boat was in my garden for a time before I started working on it. I cut it in two and in the process the floor “fell out” which became Tudor Floor Fragment – I stood what remained on its end and immediately saw a figure - a woman, a dancing woman. The mijiikenda people who live at the Kenya coast – never build their houses right on the beach because the beach itself is home for spirits – some benign others not. I don't know where this dancing woman comes from – other than my imagination but I consider her to be one of the benign spirits dancing out their existence on the creek.