S IS FOR SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE

I know close to nothing about Sao Tome and Principe but that’s what this blog is for, right? To learn about remote places through their impressive—and expressive—creators, be it artists, writers, film directors, etc. And this is where it starts for me with this small Island nation in the Gulf of Guinea: with art. Apparently, there is a documentary that follows the lives of a few Santomean aspiring artists trying to make it big. I’ve yet to watch it—or track it down, tbh—but on the director’s website I found the info on the artists who participated. I immediately fell in love with this painting by Olavo Amado. I like the art part of this blog best because it gives me the most unexpected discoveries, being less limited by language and medium. And this portrait of an unknown (to me, at least) woman is so vibrant, deep, and omnipresent, and makes me crave this faraway land, while missing my own little Southern Russian town of birth, where women sat just like that in front of basins full of mulberries or sunflower seeds. Cold colors of distress, and yet so much comfort.