Speaking of Beads...

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I simply ADORE...

the beads, the stunning models, the fabrics,

and the general sunny, happy feeling that these photos

generate...

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Africans have used beads for ritual and decorative purposes

for hundreds of years.

In ancient African graves, beads and beaded necklaces were found

buried with kings and chiefs.

The Ashanti people of of Ghana reasoned that powdered glass beads

were worth their weight in gold and that certain beads

held supernatural protective powers.

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The Yoruba people of Nigeria believed that buried beads

would grow in the ground and multiply.

The most popular trading items brought over by the Europeans

in the 16th century were beads

and thousands of pounds of beads were exchanged.
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Until the 20th century, no other continent imported as many beads

or yielded as many different types of its own.

The abundance of the shear variety of shapes, colors

and materials used is overwhelming.

None though is as popular as the glass bead.

The traditional glass bead practice thrives in West Africa.

Today, the Krobo people of Ghana, noted bead makers,

melt powdered glass in small bead moulds to form their beads.

The beads have a semi-translucent quality

that highlights the painted motifs.

Nowadays beads are used as fashion accessories

by both men and women...

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Read and see more here

photos: Bob pixel photography

Contemporary African Folk Art..

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“The productions of all arts are kinds of poetry

and their craftsmen are all poets”

Plato

Ancient Greek Philosopher

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Did you know

in Africa a "barbershop" or "hair salon" quite often entails
nothing more elaborate than a barber or hair-braider with a chair
set up in the open and a signboard hanging from a tree
or market stall..?

The signs may be painted by the barbers or hairdressers themselves,
or by paid sign artists...


They are intended both to identify the businesses
and to advertise the services offered, depicting a catalogue
of intricate women's hairbraiding patterns

or the latest in men's hair styles...



Barbers' signs can often be dated by the hairstyles depicted
- today inspired as often as not by events, styles
and personalities in the USA...

You can find find "Mike Tyson", "Mr. Tee", "House Party",

and "Cocaine Cut" offered alongside such old favorites

as "Nelson Mandela", "Back Bush",

"Sportin' Waves"

and even "Boeing 707".

Brightly painted,
these signs are a colourful, humorous,
and sometimes outrageous *contemporary African folk art.
They reflect both the ancient African tradition of hairbraiding
and hair-cutting and the cultural clash of imported
(usually American) influences...
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All the above signboards are from barber shops and hair-dressers in
Ghana, Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cote d'Ivoire, and Togo.


*Several important museum shows have featured African Hair-dresser’s signs,
including, in the US
Crowning Achievements: African Arts of Dressing the Hair
at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History at UCLA in 1995 and
Hair in African Art and Culture
at the Museum of African Art in New York in 2000.
African hair signs were also featured in a January 6, 2002 Style article in the
New York Times magazine.

Barber signs from the Indigo Arts Gallery were featured
in an article in Lucky magazine (January 2002).
One of their signs was included in Sharne Algotsson's book,
African Style: Down to the Details.


Photos of barber shops by:
Qaid, dede sahem, porkflamingo, danny.hammontree
Barber shop signs:
Indigo Arts Gallery

Le manège d'Annecy...

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Souvenirs d'enfance

(celle de mes filles...)

PEINTURES AQUARELLES HERVE VISERY
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