Description: The inspiration for this painting came from being academically associated with African art as a museum docent and storyteller of the art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. This image is a symbolic rendition of ethnographic accounts of world views and cultural traditions of some West African societies. It is a composite of images and stories and is not intended to represent a single group. Any resemblance to a particular cultural group is purely coincidental. The foundation for the painting is steeped in the philosophy of man living in a spirit-filled world in which forces, both benevolent and malevolent move among us. According to some ethnographers, there are those who believe that the world is like a calabash, a large, round, gourd-like melon cut in half. The lower part represents the underworld, the top half becomes the sky and heaven, while the middle plane is the earth. The forces of energy on earth are said to actively move. In the painting the movement is reflected by a circular motion and is represented by a series of curved lines. The faces with scarification are those of ancestors who are represented as masks of the recently departed, and serve as intermediaries between man and a supreme being. These entities help man to maintain proper behavior so that he does not stray from the prescribed path and bring about chaos.