Tamani (Girl's Wrapper) (Bamana)
Tamani (20th century)
cotton, earth pigment, plant dyes, mordant, bleaching agent
77.0 x 108.0 cm
Field collected by Claire Grace with funds from the Haffenreffer Special Fund
2004-1-21
This cloth is a girl's skirt/wrapper called a tamani, a traditional bògòlanfini or mud cloth made by the Bamana people of Mali. It would have been worn by a young girl during a Fourra coming of age ceremony. Since this particular piece is child's size, and because of its design, it wouldn't have been worn by a new initiate undergoing the coming of age ceremony, who were usually age 14-15, but by a sister, cousin or girl from the village as part of the village-wide celebration that normally occurs around Fourra.
Bògòlanfini are called mud cloths because of their manner of manufacture. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's catalog:
"The word bogolanfini literally translates into mud-cloth (bogolan=something made by using mud; fini=cloth). In this Malian tradition central to Bamana culture, men weave the cotton cloth strips that are sewn together, thus producing the canvas that women decorate through a complex resist process using plant extracts and mud. In addition to their powerful graphic qualities, the numerous designs and patterns painted on the cloths denote symbolic significance. Young women acquire the knowledge and understanding of this visual language from their mothers through a long-term apprenticeship. The motifs are usually abstract or semi-abstract representations of everyday objects. Used in association with one another, they can give expression to a proverb or a song, articulate a message, or represent an historical event. Women's wrappers were worn during important transitional periods: prior to the consummation of marriage or immediately following childbirth."
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- Clothing - Wearable Art Jessica Nelson
- Decorative Techniques from Around the World Jessica Nelson