“Will you take a look?” It’s a simple request and it works like a charm.
Daniel creating art
Hand carved portraits accentuated by red, blue and green hues look back with eyes frozen forever in a moment.
Looking at the shell-like carved display splayed for examination sparks the recognition that it is not your traditional wood carving. This is a handpicked calabash, a produce of the squash family, complete with hardened rind, perfect for carving images into it seems.
Who is the Calabash Man?
Daniel Ramiah, known to many as the Calabash Man chatted as he worked outside of Guyana Stores on Water Street. “I’ve been making art on the street since I was 17,” says 52-year old Daniel who continues, “Calabash, paintings, threadwork, purses and earrings, bamboo ships, I make everything.”
Tribal Chief
Always Keep it Natural
Like most Guyanese, Daniel has his own medical insights into the uses of natural things, including his much loved calabash. “Everything its good for, you could use the calabash leaf for; high sugar, cold, cancer, fibroids. You can boil it and mix it with spices and drink that, you’d be surprised the kind of things it could do for you.” Among the crowd of his frequent customers are those that simply seek out the calabash for its many properties, including their use in spiritual activities.
Calabash man by this time had never stopped working, using an assortment of handmade tools including a hand chisel fashioned from a bicycle spoke, and a carver made from a bucket handle. This is one tradesman who was not at all made by his tools, since he has made them all from material that he found easily on hand. Daniel’s 35 years of working his trade has broadened his mind to working with almost anything. He believes in the use of natural, ordinary things in the making of something extraordinary.
A Lamp Shade
Was the journey easy? Certainly not, in a land where there are financial restraints that don’t always permit an indulgence in art, Daniel had faced more than his fair share of troubles. He stays true to his art by focusing on his love for it rather than anything else. As for those who believe what he does is easy, Daniel makes a tactful remark.
“It doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money, but it does take a lot of skill.”
The results of his skill did not disappoint, during a five minute conversation with the man of speedy hands, he’d managed to complete a full portrait of me!
What had appeared as lightning fast jagged lines had formed a human face with an inquisitive expression – my face as I asked question after question. The new pattern on the shiny green surface of the sturdy shell came fresh from the hands of their maker, who assured me that it would dry and become tougher. His parting words explained that the shell would eventually take on the trademark brown colour of an aged calabash shell.
As for Calabash man, he isn’t one to stray from place to place, and has remained faithfully in front of Guyana Stores for over 20 years. There, he invites all just as he did me, “Will you take a look?”
You won’t regret it if you do.
Calabash Artwork
