African Patterns

African Canvas, Margaret Courtney-Clarke

An ode to my profession

Africa has a wealth of patterns, everywhere you look you will see repetitions of shapes and colours, textures and lines laid out in all sorts of arrangements.

So what is so interesting about patterns?

Besides being so visually appealing, I see pattern making in Africa as an innate thing, akin to rhythm: The pounding of maize in a bowl feels the same as the stamping of pigment on fabric….. the weaving of hair braids is the same soft rhythmic exercise as plucking at an mbira.

Take a drive anywhere in Africa and look for patterns; note the decorated houses, see how the road stall is set out in product groupings defined by colour or shape. Look at the woman across the street… see the woven, patterned basket she carries on her head, observe the colourful, printed or dyed fabrics used to clothe her.

In nature, and all around us in Africa, there are patterns that can be visualised or conceptualised. On the land, observations of botanical items like leaves, trees, thorns, pods and seeds reveal elegant shapes, lines and patterning. Deeply thrown afternoon shadows from trees and rocks lend themselves to beautiful intricacies of pattern. So, too, do the camouflage markings on animals, birds and insects.

Deep river waters make whorls and eddys and at the ocean, waves create textures in the sand. Sea shells and fish have beautiful intricate patterning for adornment and coral creates crazy outline shapes. So much reference to use as a source!

Read the rest on Bronwen’s blog here.