Street art, Makumbaya and surrounds

Januari 15th, 2013

I write this in English because I will share it with friends around the world.

On Sunday the 13^th January 2013 we made a road trip by car to some small villages “behind” the airport to see some great street art. Three of the villages are Makumbaya (a.k.a. Sameh), Bafuloto and Galea. There were a few more, but I don’t remember the names. In  February 2012 I travelled there by bus with our maid Sira. That was when I first saw small glimpses of these paintings through the bus window. Of course there was no chance to stop and see any closer.

During the summer I searhced the Internet about this phenomenon, and found that it was several “western” street artists that had made great art on the house walls last winter. The most important of them is ROA.  I absolutely wanted to see them now again. I was qurious about how  they had survived the heavy rainy season, and of course I was eager to see them  closer, in real life, and not only through a bis window or pictures on the net. 

My favourite pictures are the ones made by ROA, black and white humoristic paintings of animals. They are just great! But we discovered there were many more, paintings made by at least 3 or 4 other painters.

 There are two ways to drive there from us on the coast;  North way through Lamin, then Kerewan and then Makumbaya. The South way is through Brikama, then Bafuloto and then you are there.  

Sira, our maid who has relatives in Makumbaya, traveled with us. Sira only knows the North road, she went there many times by public transport. Even me, once in February 2012.  Now we chose to drive the South road through Brikama. Börje had activated Google Maps on his tablet, and it worked fine 99 % of the roads!! Hard to believe, but Google Maps work fine in the middle of nowhere on tiny small roads in Africa.

First we visited Atiti, Sira’s relative in Makumbaya. She cooked lunch for us, and then followed us in the car as a guide to all these places. 

The paintings are along a road through several villages, maybe 10-15 km long way. Almost all of them had survived the rains, all but one, the monkey which was very much worn out. They had all even been safe from further vandalism. It seems as if people in the villages appreciate and like them. 

One house was painted a bit differently, I could not recognize any of the artists’ style. I wonder if someone from the village was inspired and made his/her own paintings there. I did not ask anyone.

Here you are. Enjoy!!

Notice; This is not all. We missed quite many of the pictures - they were on other roads, or awkward to take photos of. 

 

That's it, folks. Should not you go there too?
When I asked Atiti, our friend and guide there wheather people liked this, she said YES! When I insisted her to say if there was any negative comments she heard, she answered:
Some people have critisized the artists that they only painted there, they did not contribute anything else to the villages, like  food stuffs, wells, schools or healthcare development or anything else for the villagers. They kind of used (misused?) the villages for theis own pleasure or benefit only. But mostly, all are happy.

I was happy to see all this. And we benefited the villages by buying things from their shops, at least.

Ritva