Trotro Surfers

Oil on Canvas, Framed
30” x 24”
2019
SOLD

Throughout the developing world, mass transit, such as it is, is provided by privately operated and marginally regulated vans, jeeps, trucks and other vehicles which have been modified to maximize the number of passengers they can carry, with no regard for comfort, of course.

In Ghana these ubiquitous vans are called trotros and many can carry more than a dozen passengers. During a trip between the Northern Ghanaian cities of Tamale and Salaga, my daughter snapped a photo out of her trotro window which captured the wild Ghanaian landscape zipping by, and included the shadows of the van as well as a cargo of chickens and two windblown paying passengers riding on the roof.

I’ve borrowed fauvist colors and expressionistic technique to try to capture the dynamism of this scene.