Online Exhibition: African Renaissance
This exhibition portrays images of a young man; a healer and gentle soul, yet also a fiercely independent entrepreneur, someone with the strength and determination to realize his own personal dreams. This man is from the country of Angola and now resides in Cape Town, South Africa. Having turned away from a soul-limiting career he instead pursued his true passion in the health and fitness arena where his own intuitive and healing talents can come into their own. He is a health nut himself. For more info, please see further below.
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We met at a cafe, where my husband and I had coffee and cake. This young man was a waiter there. Well, and it was "love at first sight". For me, this young man epitomizes hope for a better world. He is part of a new generation of African men who embrace strength and gentleness, being guided by intuition and a desire to make a positive difference in the world, who by choice "would not hurt a fly", and whose humanity feels universal.
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With my artists's eye, I also saw instantly how beautifully paint-able he would be... so after chatting for a while I asked if I could take a couple of pictures because I love to paint portraits. He agreed and there we were, me taking pics and him striking a few poses. Hmm, he was good at this, I thought... later it turned out that he had been a photography model for years, but had left this trying profession to follow his soul's calling. He was studying part time while working at the cafe.
As a result of Covid-19, he lost his job for nearly four months and had to eek out a living on his savings. To his enormous credit he just focused and went on studying and now, six months later he has completed his online studies. He is a natural healer, but now also has the credentials. He has already reached out to sports clubs and gyms, where he will work as a sports massage therapist and nutrition advisor. He did this work with rugby players before, while he was studying, and became a hit sensation because of his intuitive healing. Six months after we met, I had these paintings of Bruno done...