Child of the Sahel
Nafogo Coulibaly

Nafogo Coulibaly has made use of very traditional Western materials, ink on paper, and a very naturalistic, representational style to create images of the African world, in this case children in a community in Mali. This child shows the herniated umbilicus that is so common in most of Africa but which usually disappears completely by the time the child reaches his late teens. The image evokes the struggle of children to survive in a harsh environment where the infant mortality rate is as high as 50% before the age of five.