In 2007 I had the opportunity to travel with a group of volunteers to a tiny village in Ghana, West Africa . It was my intention to paint a mural an a wall in the children’s ward of the hospital. Months before I left on the trip, I began researching the project. The hospital and I communicated via email and soon they put me in touch with the hospital administrator. I decided I wanted to do a jungle seen for the children with the local animals. I studied which animals were in proximity to the village and included them in my sketch. The first drawing had one of my most favorite animals, a Chameleon. These colorful lizards are as common in Ghana as green lizards are here. I drew the Chameleon peeking out from the jungle foliage. I sent a copy of the sketch to the hospital administrator. Soon I received his reply. “Oh no!. You cannot put a Chameleon in the mural. The local villagers are afraid of them as they believe they cause cancer.” So out came the Chameleon.
Next, I decided to add monkeys. After all, everyone loves monkeys right? Soon the administrator replied.” Oh no, not monkeys! The monkeys are vicious here. They raid the village, tearing up houses and stealing food. They are horrifying.” Ok, so, no monkeys. Trying to negotiate thru the jungle concept was becoming complicated
So I decided to reroute to something completely different. I had access to a photo of the village from someone who had lived there before. I decided to draw the village and put a beautiful border around it. I researched the local art work and found that the women often made batiks on cloth. I quickly chose a batch pattern and drew it as a border on the mural. Shortly after forward the new sketch I received a response from the administrator. “Oh goodness! The border is awful” he said. “ It is a design from the people of southern Ghana, who back in history captured and sold the people from the North into slavery. Basically you put a southern border on a mural in a northern hospital. This is socially unacceptable.”
At this point I realized the importance of an artist truly understanding the environment in which his art will be displayed. It was obvious that I did not understand many aspects of the culture I was trying to serve and that I probably would not understand without going there, So I emailed the administrator that I would arrive with sketches and be happy to redo any of them to meet the local standards. In the end, it all worked out.
I did arrive with sketches and they were approved by the administrator . The local chief helped me translate the words in the border from English to the local language. I herd local boys to help paint. I talked with the women who had children in the ward.
It ended on a happy note. The chief thanked me and gave me a goat. Which in their world is a rare commodity and showed great respect for what I came to do. I learned so much there about art and culture and how an artist must be careful to think about his these mesh.