Dear Friends, 

I always knew that I would paint. But to start with, I was scared and unsure. I had never been taught how to paint, how to handle the materials. I had never even held a brush in my hand. Life itself had taught me everything I knew, everything I was, everything that propelled me forward. Life was, and still is, my university.  All I knew was that I was ready to learn, and so I taught myself. I wanted to do that. I really wanted to see what I could do, what I could create. But I didn’t want to go to a teacher or an artist to learn from them. I wanted to do it myself, as I had done all my life. 

When I start a new painting, I have the same routine every time. The moment I pick up the brush, the moment I stroke the canvas, I go all in. I walk through a door and enter a room of pure joy. An expanse of total freedom and deep meaning. Pleasure, space, imagination, fearlessness. Anything I want to do, I can do. There is nothing more beautiful and more powerful than that.  When I pick up a brush and start painting, I don’t know where I am, what I am or what I have done before. I don’t know how long I have been there until I am finished. Then I step back, look at it, and, if I like what I see, I leave it that way.  

Only three things give me that feeling of complete satisfaction in life. 

Nature. Music. And art. 

These three things are the sensors that guide me. There is no judgement, no limit, nothing … Only me, my soul, my spirit, my imagination. The colours in my paintings represent the light of Africa and nature in general. Nature is my inspiration. When I follow nature, I end up in a state of idyllic bliss, where I want to stay forever.  

My paintings represent peace and paradise. Nobody can feel exactly what I feel, but I try to convey my emotions through the colours I use. You might not think there is a story contained within these paintings, but I dare you to look again. You decide what you actually see.  

Love and peace, 

Waris Dirie