African art comes in the most wonderful abstract forms, from paintings to murals to sculptures and wood carvings. Hand woven cloth, batiks, and mudcloth can be made into soft furnishings or designed into unique high fashion clothing.
The textures and designs are underused in the western world, but in Africa the rich vibrant colours are best used in the exotic clothes which are also embroidered
with wonderful original designs. The country of origin of traditional clothes can be identified by the style and use of material
Melted beeswax is mixed with paraffin and applied to the fabric before being dipped in dye. The beeswax will bind to the fabric and the paraffin wax will allow cracking, which is a characteristic of batik. Several colours are used with a series of dyeing. Thin wax lines can be applied with a canting, a wooden handled tool with a tiny metal cup and spout, out of which the wax can seep.
Other techniques to apply the wax onto the fabric include pouring the liquid wax, painting the wax on with a brush, and applying the hot wax to pre-carved wooden or metal wire block and stamping the fabric. After the final dyeing the fabric is hung up to dry and then dipped in a solvent to dissolve the wax, or simply ironed between paper towels or newspapers to absorb the wax and reveal the deep rich colors and the fine crinkle lines that give batik its character.
Gambian tie dye and batiks are extravagant, rich in different shades of colour and are often seen at tourist markets and are tailored into men’s Kaftans (haftans), women’s yara Wollof, or warambas (grandmubas), skirts, shirts, ladies blouses, as well as bed sheets, curtains and tablecloths.
Mudcloth or bògòlanfini is a traditional Malian fabric dyed with fermented mud, particularly associated with the Bambara. Bògòlanfini is a Bambara word meaning “earthcloth.” To create it, simple cotton cloth is woven, shrunk, and then soaked in a preparation of leaves from certain trees. An artist then outlines an intricate design, often taking several weeks to cover the entire cloth, with a mud dye.
The areas of yellowish mud are then treated with caustic soda, bleaching them white and creating a stark black and white design. Traditionally, a man will do the weaving while a woman will do the dyeing. In recent years, fashion designers such as Chris Seydou have
employed bògòlanfini in international clothing lines, while Malian painter Ishmael Diabate
has developed it as a fine art form.
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