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HE AVY METAL A STAY-AT-HOME DAD REDEFINES HIMSELF THROUGH SCULPTURE
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BY LORI D. ROBERTS WIGGINS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN MICHAEL SIMPSON
6-foot-tall steel dinosaur and an oversized metallic daisy greet visitors venturing into Hamidou Sissoko’s yard along Olde Farm Road in Pittsboro. The handmade sculptures are his first works of art in an outdoor garden filled with homegrown vegetables and eye-popping creativity. Hamidou, who was born in Manantali, Mali, moved to Pittsboro 17 years ago with his wife, Maureen Maurer, a native of Greensboro, North Carolina. Together, they are raising their 16-year-old daughter, Rokia Sissoko, and 13-year-old son, Tumani Sissoko. Hamidou describes himself as a selftaught artist inspired by “what I love in the natural world – birds, insects, plants – and what I can imagine – dragons, dinosaurs and robots.” His materials include oil drums, broken bikes, gears, engine parts, brake drums, control arms, motor mounts, stabilizer bars and other discarded metal objects he either finds or people save for him.
LOVE WITHOUT BORDERS
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n 1998, Maureen began a two-year Peace Corps volunteer assignment in Mali and stayed with a host family whose friends included Hamidou. Their paths crossed during one of his visits to the family’s home. 34 CHATHAM MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2022
“He laughed at me about my Bambara,” Maureen says of her proficiency in speaking one of Mali’s national languages. Bambara is spoken more often than French, which is the official language of Mali. Hamidou explains it was nothing personal, just a way many Malians rib one another. The two stayed in touch through letters when Maureen returned to the U.S. in 2000. Six months later, she went back to Mali, and the couple were married in a Muslim ceremony. In 2001, the couple moved to Chapel Hill for Maureen’s master’s degree program in public health, and Pittsboro became home in 2005. Moving anywhere can be tough, but the transatlantic transition from West Africa to North America was especially difficult because, at first, Hamidou spoke no English, had no employment prospects and knew no one except his wife. There was one skill he developed in Mali that he could use here – mechanical repairs. Hamidou knew cars, bikes and engines because he grew up helping his dad repair the vehicles he drove as a transporter. Hamidou developed his know-how of fixing simple and complex machinery. “We didn’t waste any materials in Mali,” Hamidou says. “We found creative ways to fix things. I started to like to fix cars. I’m familiar with all shapes in the car.” Becoming a mechanic here, he