| As a student of both
art and anthropology, I have become interested in many artforms worldwide.
Both the aesthetic and cultural value of African art in particular I find
fascinating. While studying abroad in Ghana, I fell in love with a collection
of symbols which have deep traditional and contemporary significance to
the Akan, one of the largest ethnic groups in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire.
The symbols, called Adinkra, have become the basis of my Senior Integrative
Project for the Center for Arts &
Technology at Connecticut College.
In this website I hope to relay the significance of Adinkra symbolism in
West Africa to foreign audiences.
Adinkra symbols were first used as decorative elements in one of the most highly valued, hand-printed and hand-embroidered cloths of West Africa. The fabrics' origin is traced to the Asante of Ghana and the Gyaman of Cote' d'lvoire (Ivory Coast). However, the production and use of Adinkra cloth has come to be more associated with the Asante than any other ethnic group. Around the 19th Century, the Asante developed their unique art of printing Adinkra cloth. Traditionally, the cloth was used exclusively by royalty and spiritual leaders for very important sacred ceremonies and rituals. The printing process entails stamping one symbol at a time onto large sheets of cotton cloth. The stamps are cut from pieces of calabash and the dye, Adinkera aduru, is prepared by boiling the bark of Badie together with iron slag. Originally the Adinkra cloth was printed on the ground, however today raised platforms with sack coverings act as the printing table. In addition to its traditional sacred usage, today Adinkra cloth is also used to make clothing for such special occasions as festivals, church-going, weddings, naming ceremonies and initiation rites. Modern designers use adinkra symbols in creating a wide range of products including clothing accessories, interior decoration, the seals of academic and political institutions, and on billboards and other forms of advertisement. Each of the motifs that make up the corpus of adinkra symbolism has a name and meaning derived either from a proverb, a historical event, human attitude, animal behavior, plant life, forms and shapes of inanimate and man-made objects. It is these meanings and individual histories that I have found most interesting while researching Adinkra symbolism. One book by A. Kayper-Mensah, which I came across in Ghana, has been a true source of inspiration. Sankofa, Adinkra Poems is a compilation of 67 Adinkra symbols paired with poetry written by the author. A. Kayper-Mensah's poems relay the meaning of each symbol in a way that literal translation can't. In this website I have chosen 16 symbols which are both personally significant and popular in Ghanaian culture. Each symbol is accompanied by an A. Kayper-Mensah poem, read by Brian Laung Aoaeh, a Ghanaian student at Connecticut College whom I've had the privilege to befriend. All imagery is an abstraction of artwork I've done in clay, wood, or pencil using Adinkra symbols. Enjoy. |
