My last day in beautiful Paris. Terry wanted to visit her aerial circus colleague from Bristol, Nina, who now lives in Paris and has developed a love of (being bendy), contortion. John accompanied her.

I took myself off to see a Kehinde Wiley exhibition, an artist I remember hearing about in 2017, when Obama chose him to paint his official portrait to appear in the Smithsonian. I loved the painting – it shows Obama sitting casually in a chair ‘floating’ amongst foliage – chrysanthemums (the offical flower of Chicago); jasmine (symbolic of Hawaii where he spent most of his childhood) and African blue lilies (alluding to his late Kenyan father).

“A Maze of Power” @ Musee du Quai Branly, is a series of portraits, resulting from Wiley’s travels through African countries for 10 years, meeting with leaders/Heads of State to discuss the history of aristocratic, military and royal portraiture, co-creating works with them to revealing their unique perspectives on contemporary governance; to highlight the diversity and distinctive cultural elements of each State and each individuals’ identity/public image. Wiley also went shopping, to purchase material that would serve as an appropriate backdrop/foreground to the painted images. Loved his choices.

It was also a (renewed) lesson for me on how much political focus the West gets relative to other areas of the world….hadn’t heard of half of these Heads of State, but am now on a learning curve to do so. Some of my VISUAL faves….

Sahle-Work Zewde, President of the Republic of Ethiopia is the first woman President of Ethiopia, being elected in 2018. AND, the ONLY WOMAN in this exhibition.

Of Amhara origin, she is the oldest of 4 children and born in Addis Ababa. Studied natural science at the Uni of Montpellier and is a veteran of the Ethiopian foreign service, serving as Ambassador to a number of African countries; France; Tunisia and Morocco; also UN appointments. Fluent: Amharic, French and English.

The image of Faure Gnassingbe, President of the Republic of Togo since 2005, is arrestingly BLUE! and suave. Before assuming the presidency, his father appointed him (oh, oh!) Minister of Equipment, Mines, Posts and Telecommunications from 2003 -05….just digging a bit, oh, apparently ‘elected’ into his 4th term, but legitimacy of election results is widely disputed. Oh well, takes a splendid portrait.

I loved the traditional robes of the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo. He’s been a politician for years, serving as the Pres from 2017. A mixed history…broadly popular promoting a “Ghana beyond aid” agenda, but his tenure has been mired by the worst financial crisis in generations with inflation reaching 40% (mismanagement of public funds deemed the cause). Press freedom has deteriorated. Another oh, oh! But wears a mean robe.

Last visual fave, former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo. Retired military officer, farmer, author, who served as Nigeria’s head of state from 1976-1979 (bad – installed by military junta) and later its President from 1999-2007 (sort of better – depoliticised the military; mobilised army and police to combat widespread ethnic, religious, and secessionist violence; privatised public enterprises to limit country’s spiralling debt). Kudos for his pan-african efforts to encourage co-operation across the continent; but allegations of corruption, human rights abuses and that as Pres, he became too interested in consolidating and preserving his personal power…..WHAT????? 🙂 hahaha!

Terry, John and I caught up @ Promenade Plantee (a New York ‘Highline’)….a lovely green walk along an ex-train line that exposes you to some art deco architecture and lovely roses blooming against a Parisien apartment block backdrop.

Terry and John suggested we visit Train Bleu for cocktails to end the afternoon (soooo pleased they did that!!), WHAT A CLIMAX FOR THE DAY. The richness and splendour of that interior is amazing to witness.

A fantastic holiday end with good friends…yay!!