Esther was born in Kenya and has the accent to support that. She was weaving a basked at a craft show. Her booth contained woven items and hand-made pottery. Another photographer, Alan, was with me.
Alan told Esther that he planned to travel to eastern Africa soon, and that his father had lived in Ethiopia for a while. This piqued her interest. Alan has a photograph of his father with Haile Selassie and three other senior officials. Ultimately, all four Ethiopians were murdered is separate incidences. Nice place. Esther got up, entered her booth, and returned with a ceramic tray measuring 10-12 inches. She said that it represented a map of Africa. I would call it a very stylized map of Africa. She held it north up (I guess) and pointed to a protuberance on the right (eastern) side and said, “No go there – bad people in Somalia”, and made the cutthroat sign. She would not have to tell me twice. While she handled the piece, I got a glimpse of the price, $110. Neither Alan nor I bought a stylized Africa.
I asked Esther if she was living in Sarasota. No, currently she is from Melbourne, FL, on the east coast. Before coming to the U.S., she had toured several European countries, selling her wares. Next she plans to tour South America. I guess a lot of people buy Stylized Africas.
Bob