Colors of the Desert
Silke Voss

Mittelhof.  Thoughts of warm countries too often generate images of explosive and extreme colors.  The implied cliché, then, diminishes their effect.  However, standing before Karin Camara’s pictures, this is not the case.  With few and gentle colors and a parsimonious use of lines, she brings Africa to the Kunststätte Mittelhof (Art Space - Mittelhof) in the rural county of Demmin .  Here, one perceives a glimmering heat, which precludes quick and thoughtless movement.  The sunlight appears to have muted the colors with a white veil.

Heat tends to reduce and demands frugality.  As such, the people, who the young artist has rendered of sepia and chalk during a three month stay this year in Conakry , Guinea , are but figurines.  Only hinted at, their posture speaks of grace and dignity.  Examples are the women wearing long robes and carrying huge, bellied clay jugs upon their thin necks.

The colors are of the desert – okra, light grey and the brownish red of African earth.  “This deep red dust is really everywhere,” explains the native of Mecklenburg, Karin Camara, who now lives with her husband, himself an African, in Lapitz ( County of Müritz ).  According to Camara, the experience of being in Mecklenburg and of needing Mecklenburg , but still maintaining a connection to the world – Camara is also a member of a worldwide organization of abstract painters known as pintura fresca – is wondrous and important for creativity.

Experiences from Far Away

The earthy, simple and reduced character of the pictures serves also to connect that which is local to experiences from far away.  The African language titles, however, certainly are exotic and sound like music:  “Adamna” (Beginning) “Mousso youma” (Beautiful Woman), “Sokhönö” (In the City), and finally, “Donkhilalalou” (The Singing Ones).