Njogu Touray (1960- ) of The Gambia enjoys depicting his surroundings with elements important to his culture such as cowry shells, sand, and pigments that he creates from tree bark and plants. In Trace of Old one is confronted with the monumentality of the ruins of the palace of Timbuktu. In the foreground the boulders are symbols of silent witness; the sky and sun testament to the unforgiving heat of the desert. Seeing Beyond relates to the magnificence of the grand baobab tree also bearing silent witness but harboring a diviner at its core. This revered sage is symbolized by the all seeing eye, an important talisman in the Moslem faith, and cowry shells. Not only are cowries symbols of economic value, but they are used by the healer to read the future and divine the path a follower should take. In both paintings one feels the harshness of the terrain through Njogu’s use of natural colors. Touray lives and works in Banjul, The Gambia.