Around The World

Many Faces: One-Heart!

This exhibit came from the many countries I have had the pleasure to visit. Some of them several times and also for all the ones I will set foot in someday in the not too distant future as  my heart has always been set to see this world.

On the 9^th of September 2010, I finished painting a face that gave me a very special feeling which I enjoyed immensely.  I then painted a lady from India and one from Cambodia inspired from a picture taken on my visit there.  It was then that I got the idea to paint faces from around the world. That first face painted on November 9 of 2010 then transformed into Israel because of a feeling that grew inside of me.

After that time, I began painting country-after-country and, for different reasons they were chosen: Some because of the history and sadness taking place there, other because they are near and dear to me, and others because when I listened to stories about them, something or someone would stand out in my mind.  Moreover, I feel a mix of social and economical status must be reflected as all countries have both the “well to do” and those with “scarcity” as well.

Here are some examples of situations exemplifying why they were created: Haiti had just endured the earthquake, Japan with the earthquake and resultant tidal wave.  Ukraine was done particularly because I met this lady on the street begging, and I just felt so connected to her. I chose to paint her with nice colors and with a face more full and clothing more dignified than the one she had on, almost in an attempt to change her setting for one which was not as sad as her reality; but not forgetting her ever. Others, like Mexico came about  by visiting this country for medical missions with Smiles International and I happened to love these old men offering goods for sale not once but twice, taking both times his picture and realizing the second time that it was the same man with a three-year period passing of time. It was made to represent Mexico at present day.

Either way, they all have a reason for being part of this exhibit and I feel certain that you will love them as much as I have as we were intended to be here sharing this planet, even with all our differences.  We are a family and there exists great beauty in those differences.

Let’s always see each and every person in this world as a reflection of us in just a different setting, having a different experience, none-the-less examples of our “humanity” with

 

Click here to read an article posted in The Coast News about Maribel and the Exhibit.