Sokoni – Market Place Painting

Worked on this particular piece for an online competition. The Artists were given a brief to incorporate the following aspects in their artwork – Architecture, Nature & Geometric Shapes.

Immediately the thought of recreating a scene from an African Village dawned upon me. Having lived the early part of my childhood in Africa, the marketplace or ” Sokoni ” in Swahili is clearly etched in my mind. Brought back many memories of my childhood and its visual has always been on my mind ever since. So it was only going to feel right for me to create this Pop Art of the Sokoni.

In my painting, the Masai hut depicts Architecture. The Goats & trees done in the Gond Style of Indian folk art represent Nature. The patterns on the clothing of the people, along with the Madhubani-style border represent the Geometrical shapes. Each part of this artwork was done in a method to bring out different aspects and multiple art technicalities to be used in one art, it was a work of passion especially when I made this with the memories of my childhood while adding those aspects.