Abu’s memories

“I don’t want to go to school, I don’t want to, a little street boy told his mother.
As she was poor, she kept telling him: go to school son because it’s there where you’ll find luck. Reluctantly, the boy went to school.
Who cares if I fall behind, he would murmour. Years went by and he still behaved in the same way. The boy grew up and it was time to leave school.
I’m a man and now it’s time to enjoy life.
But life’s hard. Whoever isn’t wealthy, needs to work, every single day.
What his mother earned was so little that they could hardly eat.
It was hight time he worked, but doing what? It was hard for the boy to find a job and nobody employed ignorant people. Eventually, he got a job as a carter, but he would complain about it. His mother answered: “had you studied at school, your fortune would be different”.

This is the tale my granny used to tell me in my childhood.

 

56 x 76 cm.

Acrylic, walnut ink, sumie and gouaches on Strathmore and Arches paper. Gold and bronze leaves.

Year: 2001