Sikiliza

@Sikilizaspeaks, Dakar 2022 This is me recently exploring the sensory delights of Marché soumbédioune in Dakar. Over 15 years ago I visited Senegal for the first time and spent more than four months backpacking and in a mission to discover self and my creative energies.  Sikilizaspeaks in 2007 I was weaning off a very difficult phase in my life my pilgrimage trip was a pathway to find parts of myself I lost along the way. It was also the time I began the journey of this blog. There are no regrets. It is a bittersweet memory as my biggest cheerleader while on this solo trip was my late brother…he encouraged me to photograph, write and be intentional about expressing myself. He bought me my first camera and gave me my first hand-me-down laptop.   I called him Swes but others knew him as Binya He joined me briefly and together we took a memorable road trip to the Gambia, and visited some traditional wrestling events and did some sightseeing, where I got to know and connect w...

Story matters… words matter… pictures matter.  I take pictures. I share stories in this way… And being a snail mail fan taking pictures of places printing them and sending postcards is one of my love languages. That said over the years we seem to have lost the interest and art of sending loved ones postcards. While I know that the world has gone digital and no longer sees value of handwritten letters and cards, I still cling to it. I place a lot of value in making time and effort in handmade and hand written gestures. However, I have often struggled with postcards that paint Africa with very problematic imagery. The  term “Big Five” is thrown around in Kenyan game drives despite its problematic roots.  The phrase coined by western trophy hunters (read as those who kill wildlife for pleasure) who considered the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo as dangerous but a challenge to hunt and kill. It is not unusual to see bookstores, curio shops and stores displayin...