African Diamonds

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£2,950.00

Original Oil Painting

Oil On Canvas

76cm X 52cm (84cm x 60cm including frame)

2022

Availability: In stock

Description

I want my paintings to give a voice to the poor, abused and invisible. I wanted to create a hyperrealism painting showing the children in Africa who are risking their lives in dark and dangerous diamond mines. I wanted every part of the canvas to shout and scream at this crime against the children. I want to paint the truth and I want people to see it.

Because children are considered an easy source of cheap labour, they are regularly employed in the diamond mining industry. One survey of diamond miners in the Lunda Norte province of Angola found that 46% of miners were between the ages of 5 and 16.

For children trapped in the diamond mines, life is full of hardship. Children work long days, often six or seven days a week. Compared with adults, they are even more vulnerable to injuries and accidents. Physically challenging tasks such as digging with heavy shovels or carrying bags of gravel can leave them hurt or in pain. Because of their small size, children also may be asked to perform the most dangerous activities such as entering narrow mine shafts or descending into pits where landslides may claim their lives.

Many child miners do not attend school. As adults, these children often will have little choice but to continue working as miners. Child labour thereby condemns many children to a lifetime in the mines, robbing them as well as their countries of a brighter future.

When creating this art work I knew I had to start with the child’s face. I had to create that look, that despair, that hopelessness. Once I felt that I had got the expression as I wanted  I then painted the diamonds in the background. In the white squares I painted a running total of the number of child deaths in these mines.

This is a painting of beauty but it demands you to look deeper and to keep looking.

“African Diamond” is also available as a signed limited edition print, please see the “Racism and Colonialism” series on the limited edition print section of the website.

Painting Information & Delivery

This painting is framed in a bespoke wooden frame, is ready to hang and will come with a signed Certificate Of Authenticity.

The painting will be professionally packaged, tracked and insured during delivery and delivery is free.

If you have any questions about this artwork please contact James on 0044 7551616352 or by email james@jamesearleyartist.com

Order received

Once you've completed your purchase, you'll receive a receipt via email. James Earley will follow up with you to provide confirmation and answer any further questions you may have.

Prepared for delivery

The next step in the fulfilment process is getting the artwork ready for delivery. The framed artwork is carefully protected with cushioned polyethylene foam around the frame, with additional protection provided by cardboard on both the front and back. Then the artwork is packaged in double-walled, reinforced cardboard boxes that offer superior protection for fragile artwork. All of this ensures that your artwork arrives safely.

Out for delivery

All orders are sent via a specialist art courier, and you will receive full tracking details.

Returns

James wants you to be absolutely happy with your artwork, so he offers a 14 day cool off period for you to take a look at the artwork in your home and make sure you're comfortable with it. If for any reason you decide it's not for you, you will get a full refund.

 

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