Togo - West Africa - page 910

Adinkra Cloth
Just as impressive as the better-known kente cloth, adinkra cloth (a colourful cotton ma-
terial with black geometric designs or stylised figures stamped on it) is also from Ghana.
The word adinkra means 'farewell', and Ghanaians consider this fabric most appropriate
for funerals.
Originally the printing was done on cotton pieces laid on the ground. Today, the cotton
fabric is cut into long pieces, spread on a raised padded board and held in place by nails.
The symbolic designs are cut on calabash stamps, and the dye is made from the bark of a
local tree called badie . The printer dips the calabash into the hot dye and presses it onto
the fabric. The rich colours are about far more than aesthetics: each colour has a special
significance: vermilion (red) symbolises the earth, blue signifies love, and yellow repres-
ents success and wealth.
The village of Ntonso, close to Kumasi in central Ghana, is famous for its adinkra
cloth.
Bogolan: Shaping Culture Through Cloth in Contemporary Mali, by Victoria L Rovine, is splendidly photographed and
is a fine study of Mali's most recognisable textile art.
Bogolan Cloth
From the Sahel region of Mali comes bogolan cloth (called bokolanfini in Bambara, and
often simply referred to as 'mud cloth'). This textile can be found in markets throughout
West Africa, but its true home is in Djenné and Ségou, both in Mali.
The cloth is woven in plain cotton strips, sewn together and dyed yellow using a solu-
tion made from the leaves of a local tree. If you thought mud was mud, think again - after
weaving, the cloth is covered in designs using various types of mud from different
sources: mud from sandstone outcrops is used for reds and oranges; mud from riverbeds is
used for blacks and greys. The cloth is left to dry in the sun, and the mud designs are then
removed, leaving their imprint - the effect is very striking.
Designs are traditionally geometric and abstract, but bogolan cloth made specifically
for tourists is more representational, showing animals, markets or village scenes. Some
designs are very complex and involve many hours of work by the artists, who are all wo-
men.