Signed Acrylic on Canvas Painting of African Women, "Friendship"

Their bond of friendship may be unbreakable, but the two women depicted in Isshaq Ismail's original painting are clearly at odds. Dressed alike, they stand back to back and face in opposite directions, as if trying to ignore one another. Ismail renders the composition in a mostly monochrome palette accented with splashes of bold color. "I want the world to know how important it is to be truthful to our friends", confides the artist.