Eco-Friendly Dried Gourd Sculpture from Ghana, "Natural Peace"

"My inspiration for this piece mainly comes from my roots and my pride in Africa. The calabash and the world have a spherical shape and it means home. The world is the only home for mankind and other living things. The hands holding the earth on the calabash represent the hands of the individuals on this earth; they are the earth's hands. These hands mean knowing to be practical, logical and grounded. We are the rulers of this world and must act meaningfully to preserve what we live in. The dove with the leaf signifies peace, freedom and love depicting that we must love one another and act as messengers in sharing peace for unity. The beads of few nations around the calabash represent the countries in the world, that since we occupy our home we must see each other as one people by stopping racism. Living together harmoniously like the stars at night. Finally, world peace simply means that humans should be as the sun and the moon that live peacefully in the sky and rely on one another," says Ghana's Eliasu Adams about his intention for this sculpture. After painting a dove over a yellow background with hands holding the world, the artisan adds recycled glass beads and a steel stand to display the sculpture in all its beauty.