Friday, May 25, 2012

Artist in Dreadlocks


I remember this intense looking child, who actually laughed a lot back then, a blur of boy racing around the courtyard between our two buildings with my son, bouncing a basketball almost bigger than he was and engaging in good natured braggadocio with the other kids. This photograph took me all the way back. This is E., my other son, the one the boy I birthed calls his brother, who he knew and loved before he could say his own name. I believe they are soul mates, friends from the time they were babies, an attentive and effortless brotherhood, still now. This child, now 19 years old, was in our home up to yesterday. He's grown into a good man, a light dancing in his eyes. And he has become a fine artist. The last time we visited the boys at college, we found E. in the art studio, making drawings for a painting, happy. Maybe he'll use this incredibly beautiful image to make a portrait of the artist as a dreadlocked five-year-old. I'd hang it on my wall. Or rather, I'd go visit it on his mother's wall.


24 comments:

  1. Beautiful boy! Those eyes!
    m.

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  2. Wow - what a stunning child! Love to see what he looks like now. (My daughter is 19! Just sayin..... ;-)

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    1. Expat mom, there are photos of him elsewhere on this blog. Though I played with adding a photo of him now, I didn't want to dilute the power of that image with other photos.

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  3. I agree with Elizabeth...outrageously beautiful. And the pics in the previous post... of the women. Just wonderful stuff here Angella. Thank you.

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  4. Wow! What a gorgeous kid! And I agree, on the other pics you have of him on your blog, he's a striking looking young man!

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  5. Oh my soul! What a burning spirit in there at such a young age!

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    1. Ms Moon, it shines right through, doesn't it? Hugs.

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  6. I agree with Elizabeth, outrageously beautiful is right! It's so nice that your son has a life-long friend who gets him. And yes he should make a painting of himself.

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  7. Beautiful and so good to know he's grown up well.

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    1. Kristin, he has indeed. His mom did a great job!

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  8. Stunning. And well done that photographer!

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    1. Cro, I don't know who the photographer is, but I give myself a pass when I swipe photos of people I love from Facebook.

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  9. oh god that photo is simply amazing. beautiful. sometimes i am in wonder at how beautiful the human body is and you can tell this boy is going to be an artist or is already one those eyes!
    xo

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    1. Rebecca, he is beautiful, was then, is now, in the way that men are. you've seen his photos on this blog and no doubt will again. i did not know he would be an artist though. that didn't emerge till he went to boarding school with a decent art program. imagine if he had missed that. in retrospect, the art was in him all along, and when it emerged, he became more settled, his spirit definitely lighter. he's a good boy and a good and loyal friend to my children. i love him.

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