Beck first went to the country as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1992. She had studied French, the official language of Niger, as an undergraduate art student at Valparaiso University and was looking for a place where she could develop her art and language skills while helping others. "It's about building a relationship with a place," she said of her time in the Peace Corps.
Niger RPCV Gretchen Beck exhibtion "Torridity" depicts the trees that give life and parables to the impoverished people of southwestern Niger
'Torridity' draws inspiration from impoverished life in Africa
By Jacqueline Mercer, Collegian Correspondent
October 04, 2005
"Torridity," a series of drawings by artist Gretchen Beck now showing in the Central Gallery, depicts the trees that give life and parables to the impoverished people of southwestern Niger.
Located in West Africa, and named the number one "least livable" country in the world by the 2005 U.N. Human Development Index, Niger is currently in the midst of a famine brought on by drought and locusts that threatens the lives of 3.5 million people, according to Rotary International.
Beck first went to the country as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1992. She had studied French, the official language of Niger, as an undergraduate art student at Valparaiso University and was looking for a place where she could develop her art and language skills while helping others. "It's about building a relationship with a place," she said of her time in the Peace Corps.
Her program worked on reforestation efforts that sought to make the land more fertile and able to support crops. The people of the area, known as the Djerma and Fulani, rely almost entirely on growing millet, a type of whole grain, for their livelihood.
After three years of volunteer work she returned home to become an art professor at Concordia University in Irvine, Calif., but has returned to Africa a number of times to help raise money to promote humanitarian efforts. "I try to go back most summers," she said. "It gets in your blood."
She is also able to use some of her time on these return trips to do preliminary work on future art projects. She said, "I interview people, take photos and do sketches. I study different aspects of the landscape. It's all a form of research for the images I produce."
It was during one of these trips that Beck first got the idea for her "Torridity" exhibit. "Your average Nigerian is really a survivor. Someone who endures great hardship," she said. "I was looking for a practical kind of metaphor to represent that theme."
Beck began to talk to some of the Fulani and Djerma people of the region about the trees scattered around the area.
The trees continue to give back to the people and thrive year after year despite the hot, arid climate that makes it almost impossible for most agriculture to grow. "Proverbs in this area compare the people to those trees," she said.
She points to a pen and ink drawing on the wall entitled, "Kobay." It portrays the braid-like roots of the Banyan tree; roots that will soon grow into an enormous tree, with as many as dozens of trunks descending into the ground from its branches.
The Fulani and Djerma, who are Muslims but practice a form of spiritual animism, pound the root into a paste and use it to cover their young children's heads, believing that as a result it will help their children's hair grow long and strong.
"A lot of them are old and dying," Beck said of the trees, whose roots, limbs and bark are represented all around the room, "yet people still glean from them. Just as the people continue to survive, so the trees continue to give of themselves and endure."
For the Djerma and Fulani, everyday life is about survival. For that reason, most do not do art in a traditional sense. Instead, it shows up in the rhythms of everyday life, in the weaving of mats and in the intricate designs of pottery.
"Their work is about functioning," said Beck. "It serves a purpose. I really tried to think about that."
"I have always objected to art for its own sake," she said. "Art really can do something and say something of substance. It can raise consciousness about a people and a place others might not be familiar with."
"Torridity" can be seen at the Central Gallery, located in Wheeler in the Central living area, through November 3. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday from 3 to 6pm, and Sunday from 2 to 5pm.
