Travel Sketchbooks

Sketches. Travel portraits. 1991

Looking and observing people carrying out their normal everyday life is what interests me most on my travels. Every face tells a story and has many stories to tell. Sketching seems less invasive than pointing a camera and the act of looking forces the viewer to engage with the subject in a special and particular kind of way...through being part of the same setting. Here are quick (and tiny) sketches of an extraordinary elderly man holding a conversation in Damascus souk. A fleeting, ordinary and also precious moment. I can remember being taken by his pure white beard, sparkling eyes and etched skin as he talked. A face that exuded friendliness and wisdom. Looking at these, I am immediately taken straight back to that place and time...the heat, dust, sound of the hubbub of people going about their business. I wonder what it is like now?