Tote bag
The first garment he ever chose for himself, not out of need, was a coral jacket, at nineteen. He's wearing that same jacket on this Arabian fox tote bag: Faiz facing forward, in his sand-colored cap, from my Animal Kinhood series.
Vulpes vulpes arabica
Man's rubbish sustains the fox who scatters dates fifteen kilometers further on.
Arabian Peninsula: Hajar and Dhofar mountains (Oman), United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. Occupies rock and sand deserts, coastal dunes, wadis, agricultural zones and peri-urban neighborhoods.
In his story, at nineteen Faiz moved to Mutrah and bought an old van, one he fixed the radio on before the brakes. His first job on his own was installing a cooling unit in a biryani restaurant; they paid him cash and invited him to eat. That same afternoon, at the souq, he bought the coral jacket: the first thing he'd ever chosen for himself. It's missing a button he replaced himself, a shade lighter than the rest.
Mutrah is the old harbor district of Muscat, with its covered souq and narrow streets: the place where Faiz buys his radios, his clothes, and almost everything else. A tote fits that kind of bustle: you sling it over your shoulder and get on with your day. I created it facing forward, with nothing behind him: you carry the calm fox up front, and the rest of his story is in his biography. He's part of a whole family of characters I make, Yago Partal.
