Old man, tell us more about your home, the bone dry Tigray and Wollo regions of Norhern Ethiopia. Those gnarled hands tell much of your story, farming all your life in impossibly difficult conditions of terrain and weather, and extreme poverty. Like most adults, you survived the killer droughts of the 1980s in your region? But how many of your children and grandchildren died in 1984-85, during the terrible African droughts and famine that gave rise to unprecedented movements of international solidarity (Band Aid, We are the World/USA for Africa). Obviously you are still very very poor. No retirement home for you, no pension, probably no health care to speak of. But you survived.

The photo who inspired this painting was taken by a friend who worked for Oxfam-Canada in the region.

Original size : 24" X 48"
Medium : nepheline gel, modeling paste and oil on canvas.