'My mother had a thick packet of old black and white photographs that my absent father had taken, developed and printed himself. It was strange to see handwritten notes on some of the yellowed photographs, and even stranger still to see that he had been documenting the very same places that I have ended up documenting in my paintings. What I find compelling about the photographs is that even though sixty years have passed since he took them (I even might have been with him when he snapped the shutter), the region has retained its timeless aspect. I wonder how many people have stared up at this mountain’s towering summit and shimmering glaciers and been inspired in some way or another. Kilimanjaro’s glaciers have shrunk, Arusha is a big town now, and the truly abundant wildlife of that era, which inhabited Kilimanjaro's forests back then, has shrunk back into some small game reserves and national parks. But in spite of that the atmosphere of the place, the feelings it evokes in peoples’ minds, is exactly the same now as it was then. It would seem that our mental image of Kilimanjaro is timeless. I suspect that the people looking at my paintings of Kilimanjaro in fifty years time will know exactly what I am trying to say - this is a romantic place. And I know that it will be the same in a thousand years time - no matter what happens to the forests, glaciers and wildlife. I can’t think of many places about which I could say the same.'

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