BULLY

By Nii B. Andrews

Last week, I was forcefully reminded how potentially dangerous a doctor’s consulting room anywhere could be.

Why?

Because each patient encounter is a form of detailed research and the accurate results must always be presented to the patient and or his family.

They (patient and family) make the final decision on what to do about the research findings – or diagnosis.

BULLY: Kwadwo Ani, oil on canvas, 70 x 120 cm, 2000. Private collection, purchased from the artist.

 

And if they do not like what you present as your findings?

What if in Africa, a bewigged family matriarch warns you after diagnosing cancer that, “it is an American disease, do not bring it here to our environment; be very careful how you speak about it here; you are lucky none of us walked out while you were speaking.”

Supposing another impetuous relative of the patient- an uncle, yells at the doctor, “This is an insult, be very careful”.

All this makes life very difficult for both doctor and patient; student and teacher; truth and falsehood.

But take heart, Kwadwo Ani has a painting that helps us to understand it all.

Or does it?

The title of the painting is BULLY. Ani’s naive (not childish) style enables us to see our faults clearly; this should make us humble enough to make amends.

Of course, with ignorance comes fear- from fear comes bigotry and irresponsible statements; but education (not schooling) destroys them all.

I think we should leave it at that for now….

3 thoughts on “BULLY”

  1. Ani’s subject matter & depiction are a perfect match!

    The style is definitely not childish but (deliberately?), dare I say, childlike but with good reason.

    Children see what is important to them & central to their being as large.

    Pictures of their parents are generally larger than life.

    Proportionally bigger than the house they live in!

    So also in this painting the bully is physically bigger than his victims. He is overpowering and sits metaphorically on them.

    He hovers over them in a threatening manner as they cower & recede into the ‘distant’ background, their eyes enlarged & bulging with fear!

    The things we fear always seem much bigger than us, physically & psychologically & this, Ani captures very well.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *