Self-portrait with henna

The young artist’s name is Sana, and this work of hers is the first self-portrait that I’ve entered into the collection. We met completely by chance at the National Museum of Somalia. The museum doesn’t have exhibitions per se; as the guide told us, everything was looted from the museum in a series of riots. The local population thus demonstrated their specific “craving” for a piece of history and culture. At first I saw the girl: she was clearly doing a photoshoot with the Somalian flag on the wall behind her. As I later learned, she is an artist with her own studio in a building that was destroyed by the war. It has a sofa with a hole behind it from a bomb; there’s no roof on the top floor. But Sana is not discouraged.

I ask: why did you draw yourself like that, with your palms up and the cheery henna paint? “Because girls in Mogadisho always do that”, Sana laughs. “And I added in the white star of Somalia, because I believe in her future”.

The terrorists (African putinoids) destroy and demolish everything, all for the sake of greed and personal ambitions. That’s their purpose in life. Sana and I think that purpose lies in creation; that’s why we will win.

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