Michal Tkachenko
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It appears I am totally in the minority for not putting prices. Hmmm. Well, I can learn from that. But how does one post prices tastefully? I also usually do what you do, TaLisa, have a hidden page with prices that I can send anyone a link to.
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I really should read that book again because I barely remember what it was like, only the impact it had on me. And it wasn’t a conclusive arrow pointing in an obvious direction. It sat more like a French film…a bit dark and ruminating and left you wondering what it was saying about your own life. I read it while I was volunteering in Haiti in primary health and not finding the fulfilment there that I was expecting. Isn’t this what I had always believed we all should be doing? Yet, that call to be an artist…
Then years later I found myself volunteering on the Mercy Ships (a hospital ship in West Africa) in war torn Liberia for a year. This time my partner’s work had brought me there. I was already an artist, but on board I worked as a chef and photographer and writer for the charity. I struggled with the strict rules and roles on board. In the end I broke some rules and sat with patients who had survived 14 years of civil war, child soldiers, rape, etc. I asked simply if I could draw their portraits. They all said yes. I had a chance to authenticate their experiences through sitting with them, giving them my time and focus and listening to their stories. I hope that I offered them some dignity in their long suffering. I gave each of them a full size image of what I had made and then exhibited the originals on the ship for all the crew and again in a small solo show in Canada alongside a lot of the writing I had done while on board. The impact and response was so powerful for me that I knew this was how I could best try (in an extremely small way) to help fix the inequality in the world. The gallery owners in Canada told me they brought their grandchildren to see the show because they thought it was so important for them to see and hear. Several years later a I was invited to take part in an exhibition on war and the body in London, UK, with that series.
