Excerpt
Today, many years after the unveiling of Isumataq, the casual observer
might conclude that Ken Kirkby is a man of great confidence. Some have
called him arrogant. Very probably, his father, Ken Sr. was given the same
epithet. But Ken recalls that although his father, like himself, was very
much in the public eye, at heart they are both private people. Like his
father, Ken enters the large public stage with considerable flamboyance
and much noise. But when the show is over, he covets his private space
and guards it fiercely. To begin to understand Ken Kirkby – the artist, the
crusader, and the man, it is necessary to see him through the lens of his
history.
Ken’s father, Ken Sr., was born in England near the turn of the century,
the youngest of four children. He was his parents’ last hope for an heir
to their wide-ranging interests in the steel industry. He had other plans.
After a stint in the Merchant Marine, he travelled to Australia where he
wandered along the coast and into the outback. When he was down to his
last shilling he went to work in a steamy, sweaty laundry in Sidney. Within
ninety days he was a partner and made the business so successful that it
was franchised across the country. When he sold his share, he purchased
a farm in the Blue Mountains in Queensland where he lived the life of
a recluse reading all the great literature of the world. In 1937, when he
judged his reading and education complete, he gave the farm to his staff
and returned to England.
Libros Libertad 