Artist Statement
The Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso looks forward with great anticipation to the birth of every new child.
Each soul they await has promised to bring a special gift from the spirits of the ancestors that the community needs for its health and healing.
The well-being of the larger community depends upon its members taking responsibility for their individual promises as they grow through life as tribal members.
As a woman in contemporary western society I reflect often on the Dagara sense of living one’s life for the benefit of the larger community.
The work speaks to maintaining the connection to the unseen world of the spirits and to the cultivation of a sacred state of openness to divine messaging.