Bol Aweng - I was born in Jonglei, a region in Southern Sudan. In 1987, I was forced to flee my homeland at the age of six without parents as helicopter gunfire and aerial bombs ripped apart my village along the White Nile River.  I took refuge in Ethiopia and Kenya before making US my new home in 2001.
I started schooling from under the tree in refugee camps to learn English, arithmetic, science and Kiswahili. I developed art skills on my own from memory and imagination using dirt, walls, and cardboard as my surfaces.  My main medium included charcoal, chalk, and color pencil plus other pigment dirt due to lack of materials.  I started with stick figures that depicted the exodus of the Sudanese lost boys.  I continued work with African scenery, especially native African animals and landscape, and science illustrations for disease awareness in the camp.  I devoted more time in art in Nashville Tennessee when I had a minimum wage job to buy the materials.  I painted particularly with acrylic color, paper, canvas, river rock and other available surfaces.

In Nashville, I attended school at a local junior college to obtain an associate degree in Computer Information Technology.  I transferred to The Ohio State University in 2006 to study international studies, but I substituted it with fine arts and received a four year degree in digital art.  I see the positive impact of digital media in my current work as I execute various renderings using modern and traditional styles.  I move forward with enjoyment and excitement, seeking unique perspectives, particularly through computer modeling, four-dimensional video and two-dimensional digital manipulation.

I went back to Africa in 2007 for the first time in 20 years to have an exciting reunion with my family.  I met my mom, dad and four siblings who were born after me.  I was brave enough to hold my tears as I learned a lot of terrible things about their survival in war zone for two decades.  I learned that my mom, sister, aunt and her kids, were all abducted by the enemy.  Mom was the only lucky one to be left behind when she had to deliver her baby on the way, while my sister was totally gone.  She has never been spotted anywhere since then.  My aunt, with her kids, was able to escape later after a couple months.

I have been working very hard here in US to support myself and the family back in Africa.  I am looking forward to bringing some family members from Kenya, but the process is not easy at all.