The idea was that the leaves shall show something personal and meaningful from each creator. I've had a little look at some of the other contributions and there is an amazing amount of variety and creativity. Yesterday I finished my leaf and handed it in to the craft consultants who work in the same building. They were finishing up with a big meeting and asked me to talk to everyone there about the ideas behind my leaf. When I was finished they said they wished they had recorded it, hmmm, I said - well I'll have to write it down then. So I did. Here are pictures and the little descriptive text I made, its a kind of poem, in Swedish.
I Afrikas livmodern har vi alla legat.
The pictures don't show the details so well, one needs to have a closer look. The front has a map of Africa with its waters. In the poem I said don't forget the underground rivers, the spiritual connections to the ancestors and the holy places. Around the edge I scratched in the names of the 54 countries, an external concept, borders drawn out by the colonists. The cord, a closed circle, weaving in and out holds everything together. It represents the outward movement of people from Africa during the mankind's early development, during the slave trade and now the great Zimbabwean exodus of which I am a part. It also represents the movement of european/ arab slave traders, the colonists and the multinational companies. It is as if at some level they remember where they originally came from and they return to demand their inheritance, to take Africa's riches. This is what the edgework represents - diamond shapes, surrounded by gold, filled with blood. Over the hide, strings are stretched. It is like music creates a bridge over the continent between all the people of the world, the rhythms of jazz, blues, rock and roll, hip hop etc, which came originally from Africa and have spread over the world joining people together. Now we can see the positive, the millions of Africans in the diaspora who pour back wealth to their countries and their families who remained behind. There are also millions of others who feel this inexplicable pull, who feel drawn to Africa and drawn to help and heal. So the flow is back and forth. On the back, on the copper, there is the form of a foetus, made with sandpaper. It represents the idea of Africa as the womb of mankind, we all come from there originally. It also represents new life, new hope, Renaissance. And the way in which the metal reflects the light through the skin, Africa's Enlightenment.