here are a few photos of how i installed the gourd prints...

Print Stack

i turned one of my gourd drawings into a drypoint plate and printed it 56 times, this amount of prints required me to re-scratch the plate as the constant printing wore away the indents, i tried printing on an varied white tones of paper. I played around with how i install them will post photos later on...

...and here are the gourds that i collected on my recent trip across Kenya. they really are so different to the ones in England. i think my next challenge will have to be to grow some from the seeds inside the gourds from africa here to see what effect the chilly english climate might have on their growth...

here is some photo documentation of the gourds grown in Hampshire, England (the same ones i've blogged drawings of). They are very different in shape to the ones that i've seen in kenya, i suppose this is a reflection on traditional values; in Kenya they are grown (not so much now) to serve as a functional object, here (in england) they are grown for an aesthetic purpose. They're not even edible!

i'm thinking about ways to spend my two weeks off of uni in a week, i've found out that Kew Gardens host a large collection of gourds, i've never been but always wanted to so this seems like the perfect excuse...

it will be interesting to see the same gourds i have recently seen in their traditional environment being exhibited as artifact rather than functional obejects or art...

here is the video i promised in the last blog, its just a short bit before we get to the lady decorating the gourd, i'll try uploading that and a few videos from kitui too later on. i'm thinking of playing around with the sound, maybe having it away form the visual footage, i think the sound could have more impact by itself...

Kibuye market with Eddie and Ken

It has been a while since getting back from kenya now but i'm still very excited about my findings out there... unfortunately i wasn't able to keep on blogging whilst away due to the lack of internet signal where we'd been staying however this didn't slow down our explorations...

i think i left it at Kisumu, the night before going to one of Kenya's largest markets. The Kibuye Market is a huge outdoor market selling everything from second hand clothes, furniture, food, to a garage where a chorus of men banging about tools and metal are found. It is described as 'animated' and most certainly was continuing over land stretching for a few kilometers! Our friend Ken, who lives in Kisumu, directed us around the market, we stumbled across this lady who was using gourds functionally to scoop up maize flour and unga to sell to the local market goers, she showed us how she decorates them too, this is what i look so happy about holding!

i've made a video of the day too... i'll get it uploaded soon after i've managed to get my head round imovie!