Colobus Monkey goes to Vermont!
I am very pleased and honored to announce that my drawing "Kutokua Na Hatia (Colobus Monkey)" has been selected for the Art of the Animal Kingdom XX exhibition at the Bennington Center for the Arts in Bennington Vermont.
Art of the Animal Kingdom XX
The Bennington
Bennington, Vermont
June 6 - August 2, 2015
"Kutokua Na Hatia (Colobus Monkey)"
Graphite Pencil on Arches #300 watercolor paper
15 x 6
In Swahili, “kutokua na hatia” roughly translates to “innocence/free of guilt.”
I spent the last day of my African adventure in Arusha National Park, which boasts many different animals than those I observed in the earlier part of my trip in Tarangire. The park’s habitat is almost jungle-like. I entered the park knowing that it served as home to black-and-white colobus monkeys, and I will admit I was really hoping that I would have the chance to see them.
Arusha National Park lies on the side of Mount Meru, an active volcano. As we made our way up the edge of the crater wall, we could see Mount Kilimanjaro through the tree canopy. As we came around a bend on the path, we spotted a grouping of colobus monkeys. The dense trees made it tricky to capture reference material. It wasn’t until we were coming back down from the top of the road that I saw a glimpse of white. My guide, Jeremy, very excitedly turned to me and said something in Swahili and pointed up at the monkeys. Even though I had been in the country for more than a week at this point and I felt like I was getting a grasp on the language, I had no idea what he said but I looked up and saw this little innocent face looking down at us. Baby colobus monkeys, I learned, are born with pure white fur but don't stay that way for long so I was extremely fortunate to have seen this little guy.
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