Artist: Aminou

From: St. Louis, Senegal

This painting shows the much anticipated arrival of the fisherman in St. Louis at 17:00. The large team dressed in yellow jackets row out to sea in wooden huge pirogue canoes. When there is a good catch, the whole community becomes animated and is excited to welcome their brothers, fathers and sons back.

Fishing is becoming an ever more difficult profession, as the Senegalese government sold multi-million dollar fishing rights to the Chinese government, who overfished the area with their giant trawlers. As a result, the traditional Senegalese fishermen are obliged to take more risks, going out further and staying out at sea for longer to avoid returning empty-handed.

In St. Louis, which is known as a fishing city , scenes like this are becoming ever more rare, and the number of permanently beached pirogues is sad to see. This painting serves to preserve the memory of an easier time.

IMPORTANT: This is painting has some small areas of damage, namely cracked paint, but as Aminou says, this simply adds value to the painting, giving it more of a rustic/vintage appeal. Like battle scars, they have meaning and show that these works have not had an easy life in a gallery - they are truly authentic and artisanal. As this piece is attached to a heavy piece of wood, which has a loop already attached, it is ready to hang up.