Have We Met? is a 15 minute split screen video that presents four aspects of daily life in a remote village in Mali that is the natal village of Janet’s close friend & collaborator, artist Kandioura Coulibaly.The video was produced in 2006 as an integral element of the installation of the same name that was first shown at Colgate University in 2006-7.

Karenguimbe is close to the site of Kumbi Saleh, the ancient capital of the Wagadu, the 1st Empire in West Africa. It was rich from cattle & gold and flourished from the 8th to the 11th century.

The people of Karenguimbe want you to know about them & their way of life:

Women & men drawing water from the Well, the sole source of water for both people & animals & the reason Karenguimbe came to be located in this spot,

The Griot, the musician, historian, genealogist playing his ngoni, which has existed in this location for many centuries,

The fields of Millet, which is pounded by the women & prepared for eating. The harvest was meager due to lack of rain after months of hard labor,

A memorial for a relative who had died 40 days earlier and the reason for our visit in 2004.