30″ x 40″
Watercolour and acrylic
2007

In 2006 I covered the elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo as an accredited photographer. In an increasingly tense atmosphere, I went with a journalist and two Congolese translators to an opposition rally. On the way our car was jostled, my door was opened repeatedly—the lock did not work, election signs were thrown at us and we were continuously threatened. The area around the host stadium was teeming with thousands of hostile young men. Nearby buildings were being torched. I told the translators that I was not going inside and neither should they. We crossed the street and hid behind a courtyard wall. Mothers and children, the hope in even a place as seemingly hopeless as the DRC, were in the courtyard, including the two kids in this painting. My wish as an artist is to find the hope and dignity of God’s people wherever I go.