'Lamu excited me from the moment that I set foot there for the first time. It has all the old-world attributes of the Swahili Coast that remind me of my childhood in Mombasa. These Swahili Coast paintings are my homage to the architecture and culture of this part of the Kenya Coast. I like the smells and the noises of these kinds of towns as well. Unfortunately paintings can not impart a sense of the smell of a place which for Lamu would be the aromatic scent of the warm India Ocean overlain with a hint of donkey droppings, open drains and fire smoke. Paintings can evoke a memory of smells and noises and that's what I'm trying to achieve.
This painting is of mid-morning Lamu square when all the women of the old town are headed to the nearby market. I have a vintage post card of this square dated 1908 which shows exactly where I was sitting near the fort steps when I was getting material for this painting. I love the idea that my painting of this iconic square is part of the same continuum that inspired the artist who made the watercolour used on that vintage post card.'

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