Pole pole
I hope you will indulge me, for using my very basic knowledge of Swahili to let you know that I’m back in town. I’ve been away in Zanzibar for a while, where I’ve made new friends, created new work and learnt many new things that I aim to share with you in the near future. My understanding of the term pole pole is “little by little”. Hopefully a panoramic picture will emerge soon of the rich experience that I’ve just had.
I’m still getting used to the fact that I can take internet access for granted once more, so I might be a bit sluggish in resuming my usual routine of regular posts. It’s good to be back, but I will also miss the warmth of the people I met over the last fortnight.
If travel is supposed to broaden one’s mind, I guess I’m still processing the information that I’ve absorbed. The connections available to many of us through the use of social media platforms have created new layers of communication which could appear to be intimate on the surface, but are somehow selective in what they reveal. Face to face interaction will always be the real deal.
It was reassuring to see a few friends and associates who used to live in London, because they helped me to gain access to a sense of perspective while I was away. Things might have been considerably more complicated if those people hadn’t been present, so I’m grateful to them for their support.
Many thanks also to the Arts Council of England for making it possible for me to embark on this adventure. I remember telling a friend about the sequence of events that led to me being able to go on the trip and he observed that it is obvious that I was supposed to reach that part of the world. This is probably just the beginning of a whole new phase in my life as an artist. I look forward to my next visit to Zanzibar, which hopefully will be in the not too distant future.
