Art

I've never been big on art. My family is funny- my brother is an amazing artist who painted the mural at our high school (is it still there??) whereas my other brother has issues with stick figures. Luckily I have a semi artsy side but nothing crazy. But since coming to Bolivia, I took full advantage of affordable art classes, and started to paint.

Then comes Victor. I could never do him justice with an explanation. In the Bolivian world, he is another hard working totally middle class man. But to me he is one of my best friends, whether he'd like it or not haha. Grew up in what most would consider poverty, but he never realized it because he lived in a village without materialistic things and that's all he knew. The river was the place to play and wash clothes. No such thing as supermarkets or even a mercado/market, what the lower class use in the city for shopping. Instead, local middlemen just sell good out of their front porch basically. His mom and brother still live out there, but he has since moved to SC for opportunity with his wife and son. He works hard. When I'm there we chat about everything- what Harvard means to people, racism in Bolivia, how dance class is going, the things that annoy us and the things that make us happy.

A popular Brazilian artist replicated by Victor, Romero Britto

Anyways, as always whenever I talk about art I end up just talking about Victor. But I have all these pictures of cool things I now somewhat appreciate. Hope you can too : )

An oil of the landmark cathedral of Santa Cruz

A poster from a graphic art exhibit

A sculpture from a Japanese artist about
the post-Tsunami Japan emotions

A Stroll in Fog, replica of Afremov in acrylics, Emi Okamoto and Victor Villaroel
Victor kept telling me to add a lady under the umbrella, but we decided I will add his pair when he
has found the artist.  Til then, he'll just have to walk alone, enjoying the beauty around...