It was also
the day that I put the finishing touches to a mural project in the village of
El Hato, just outside Antigua, Guatemala. It’s the second mural at this school.
Two years ago, I painted a mural here, representing both youth and the community’s
floriculture. Recently, I was approached again by the director and teachers to
come back for yet another mural. The theme was the same: portraits of local
children (students from the school whose parents grow flowers) against a
backdrop of Guatemalan textiles and flowers grown in this village.
When I
finished, late in the afternoon on All Saints Day, it was already getting dark
and it had just started to rain. I couldn’t take any decent pictures of the
result. But I had to go back anyway, for the official opening of the mural, as
organised by principal Paty. The whole school got together and I received a big
thank you, some beautiful flowers from the mother of the kids I had painted, as
well as a beautiful piece of Guatemala fabric.
