Dogon Country

After traveling the world for over a year, I can say without a doubt that Dogon Country deserves it’s place on the top-10-places-to-see-before-you-die list.

 I was and still am left speechless by the stunning landscape and the complex and elaborate culture of the Dogon people. There honestly are no words to do this place justice – you simply MUST see this world for yourself. It is worth every penny and all of the many drops of sweat lost.

 The Dogon take great pride in their gala (indigo) and bogolan fabric which incorporate the many symbols and designs of their culture. Most ubiquitous is the “Chiwara” an antelope that represents agricultural prowess  and the “Dogon” sign of two contrasting U’s for the earth/sky and a bar in the center for the Dogon people.

 Unlike in the big cities, no chemicals are involved in the traditional method and only recently have artisans begun to create “modern paintings’ using a bleach solution to make white.

 In Dogon, the ‘ngalama’ leaves which make the yellow dye is called ‘akashia’ and instead of dying the entire fabric with it, it is instead mixed with indigo and drawn only onto the places where the clay will be applied and then drawn again on top of the clay.

The layers of clay and dye are repeated as often as necessary to make a deep permanent black. A drawing in the negative with bleach to remove color is thus never utilized.

 The difference is obvious in the softer colors and more organic lines of the natural bogolan . If there is still any doubt just look on the back to make sure it is white and not pre-dyed.

 The bark of the ‘local wine tree’ is used to color the fabric reddish-brown and it’s berries can be eaten or made into juice. Delicious!

 Even the indigo is made only with the ashes of millet stalks. I can’t help but wonder how this is possible then the usual process requires both causic soda and hydrosulfite to make the blue truly colorfast. Maybe the Dogon really do have some sort of ancient magic!

Birthplace of Bogolan

Djenne is a World-Heritage listed city in Mali famous for it’s mosque – the largest mud-built structure in the world. It is also reported to be the “true home” of bogolan fabric whose designs are supposedly painted with the same mud that created the mosque.

 I arrived to Djenne with great expectations of shops full of bogolan, artists busy at work and huge pots overfilling with mud/clay.

 Although I did see many people wearing and selling bogolan in the crowded Monday market, the quality and selection in Djenne was not at all what I had hoped for. After the busy workshop and fine work I saw in Segou, these just did not compare.

 Traditionally, bogolan is the work of women artists and Pama Sinatoa is “the most famous artisan” in Djenne. Even a visit to her workshop however failed to reveal the “top-notch” and “enormous” selection of textiles advertised in my tour book. Although I was impressed with her role in starting the women’s bogolan co-operative I did not see any of the 150 women artists working in my two days there and the excuse that it was not tourist season just did not satisfy me.

Finding the source of the mud that makes it all possible however made this trip more then worthwhile. It was incredible to see the crowd of people fishing within the goopy grey muck and I longed to jump in and play with them. As a source of building material, art medium and even food – this stuff really is the life-blood of this society!

colors of the earth

I just spent an incredible week in the city of Segou with Groupe Bogolan Kasobane, the people responsible for bringing Bogolanfini into the fine art world. Although the original group consists of 6 artists, they also run a studio/gallery made up of over 15 artists. It is in this beautiful and creative environment that I learned how to make my own pieces of art out of cotton, clay, and all natural dyes.
Boubacar Doumbia, the founder of the group; introduced me to the origins, process and many symbols of this medium. It starts with Basilanfini, a fabric dyed from the leaves of the “ngalama” plant (yellow) and the bark of the “npeku” tree (red). Both contain a chemical called tannin which has been used as medicine and an antiseptic by the Bamara tribe of Mali for centuries. “Basilanfini” thus translates to “medicine cloth” and has been worn traditionally by Malians for protection and healing. Legend has it that a hunter wearing basilanfini carried home an animal covered in clay which reacted with the tannin in the fabric to stain it a permenant black. That is how “Bogolanfini” or “clay cloth” was born. The process is long and involves first dying the fabric multiple times to make basilanfini, then painting on the clay before applying multiple layers of a bleachlike substance and natural dyes to produce a finished work.
I can’t believe I managed to make 7 pieces of bogolanfini in 7 days! Here they are drying in the sun. I seriously LOVE this technique which uses the colors and materials of the earth. Why has no one combined bogolan with batik? The dyes are used cold and would be the perfect solution to the problem of using natural dyes with wax!

Bogolanfini

Bogolan is a way of creating designs on fabric using clay (not mud!) and an integral part of Malian culture.

While there is no wax involved, the symbols and processes used in Bogolan are very similar to batik which only arrived long after Bogolan was established. Each piece of Bobolan cloth represents the sun which grew the cotton, the earth which dyed the cotton and the artist who is him/herself made of earth and sun. The circle of earth, sun and artist is moved by the creative spirit and the finished product is indistinguishable from the thing that created it.I love the neutral tones of this fabric and the absence of chemicals used in making them. For how proud the Malians are of their national fabric however, I am surprised by the few locals I see wearing it in contrast to the ubiquitous batik, tie-dye or British wax prints everywhere I look. In this hot, brown land, I can see the appeal of the brighter and more colorful clothing which looks so wonderful on their dark skin. Personally however, I love the earth tones of Bogolan more!

Gender roles

Like the rest of West Africa, batik in Mali is created in conjunction with tie-dye. The strict family connections don’t seem to exist here however and I was surprised by the huge groups of unrelated men and boys working together on various forms of patterning fabric, including sewing, tying, binding and stamping. Anyone is welcome to join them to learn the craft and I saw many young boys taking advantage of the free education. Unlike Senegal or Gambia where both men and women can work from start to finish (although it is almost always men); in Mali, all of the designing work is restricted to men while the dying is reserved for the women. This is such a contrast to Indonesia where the opposite it true! Instead of helping with the men who are behind, these women are sitting around waiting for the men to finish sewing and stamping in order to do their part of the work.

The finished cloth is then sent to be softened and pressed by these men who

spend the entire day lifting these enormously heavy mallets.

The Malians couldn’t believe when I told them that in America and Europe, sewing and crafts are considered too feminine for most men. No one can explain to me the reason for these gender roles and I have yet to understand why they differ so much between countries. In a way, it seems to be representative of Africa’s problems. While tradition can keep a society grounded, they must move beyond useless customs and think for themselves if they are to move ahead.

textile connections

The markets in Mali are filled with textiles of all sizes, shapes and colors!

Batiks here are made only with wooden stamps and tjanting tools of any kind are non-existent. The result is patterned fabric used for clothing and wax resist paintings such as these are imported from Guinea or Senegal and not made here in Mali.

This country is instead famous for Bogolanfini cloth which contrary

to popular belief, is painted with a type of clay, not mud.

I know I sound like a broken record, but it really is such a small world after all! Through Robin Paris (my teacher in the U.K.), I contacted Jim Barry, (a batik artist who visits Mali regularly) who proceeded to introduce me to Janet Goldner who just so happens to be friends with Nia Flym and Agus Ismoyo (the couple I studied with in Indonesia) and is also co-writer of the grant that sponsored their collaboration with a group of Bogolan artists here in Mali! Amazingly, both Jim and Janet are also in Mali for the summer and I was lucky enough to meet them both during my first week here in the capital city of Bamako. With Janet’s help, I have arranged to spend a week in the city of Segou with the Bogolan Kasovane artist group - 6 artists responsible for bringing Bogolan into the international art scene. Jim Barry’s knowledge of Indigo dyers in Dogon Country gave me the perfect excuse to visit this spiritual place noted for the villages perched on cliff sides. I can’t wait to get started!