Nothing lasts forever. Ships go down at sea or are broken into scrap. Nations grow out of fertile soil and disappear into the desert. Art decays or is destroyed. Ideas are as persistent as a shadow cast by smoke. But for now, in this moment, I am haunted by the mystery of this ephemeral existence and the excitement of discovery when exploring its depths.


























My creations are built up in layers like chapters in a story. Each one revealing a little bit and implying a little more. But the removal of a layer is irrevocable, the story bound in that layer is gone forever. And when a layer is removed, what have you lost and what have you gained? Have you ground away the pearl to reveal a grain of sand?  Time treats our lives, our creations, and everything we value the same way. Peeling away all the layers you want, until one too many.


The Mauritania Trading Company is discovering by exploration and experiment how the ideas and experience of art can be perpetuated through time.