Bogolan (Dogon)
Bogolan (2004)
cotton, earth pigment, plant dyes
56.0 x 37.0 cm
Field collected by Claire Grace with funds from the Haffenreffer Special Fund
2004-1-35
This bogolan by Malian artist Souleymane Ouologuem, was made for a contemporary artist bogolan workshop organized in Bamako, Mali. The workshop tied bògòlanfini techniques to photography, combining the practices of bògòlanfini mud cloth techniques with the aesthetics of photography. Bogolan are the result of a combination of traditional skills and modern artistic sensibility that has given rise to a new life for these cloths, adding to the bògòlanfinis roles of clothing and life-stage marker, to become fine art as well. For more on contemporary bogolan artists, please visit the Groupe Bogolan Kasobane.
This particular bogolan consists of a small rectangular textile with fringe along three sides, depicting silhouette figures of men, each with an outstretched arm holding a stick. In the background is a silhouette of a bovine. It was still produced using the techniques common to bògòlanfini, with fermented muds and prepared cloth to create the image, but with these figural representations, it is a departure from the more symbolic representations common in traditional bògòlanfini.
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- Decorative Techniques from Around the World Jessica Nelson