This third week of classes consisted of a visit from Nani Agbeli and continued education about African textiles. We had discussed Adinkra prints and the process to which they are made but it was a completely different experience being able to actually make the prints myself.
Being from Ghana, Nani has had first hand experience in the world of batik. He mentioned early on that batik originate in Indonesia and eventually made its way to Ghana where it is predominately done. There is somewhat of a universal aspect to batik printing that makes it open to a number of peoples and cultures. The various stamps and symbols used in batik show its world wide influence. It was difficult at first to grasp the idea of how the printing was done but after doing it first hand I believe that myself as well as the rest of the class have a better understanding and greater appreciation for batik.
The batiks that we had looked at in class were immaculate..seemingly perfect in almost every way. I knew from the start that mine would never be up to that caliber, but nonetheless it didn't stop me from, as Nani would say "going to town". I picked stamps that were aesthetically attractive to me and I came to find out that a lot of them didn't even have specific meaning. They were just symbols. That is another fascinating thing about these batik prints. It seems like everyone searches for a meaning behind a lot of these symbols when in actuality they were just picked because someone liked the way they looked. Pretty simple.
Nani himself is a very humble and passionate individual. He described his initial choice in high school to work in the visual arts field and how he has used things specific to his culture to inspire his art. It's always inspiring to see someone still passionate about their life's work even after years of practice. Aside from being a veteran artist in batik Nani is also a skilled dancer and drummer. I think that is one thing that really appealed to be about Nani...his overall zest for life and for his culture. Everything about him from the way he spoke to the way he dressed to how he carried himself. It was truly a pleasure being able to experience batik making and from such a distinguished guest to boot.
I'm glad you enjoyed the workshop and the performance! I'd like to see deeper digging into class concepts in relation to what we did. A small tic: "symbolic" or "symbols" means an image that stands in for something--so it must have meaning. Perhaps use "designs" or "motifs" for word choice instead.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed my time with Nani. He is a very inspiring individual and I learned a lot from him. I hope that I still have the love and passion for my work after doing it for many years. I also thought that it was interesting that not all of the stamp designs had a meaning. I think that Western culture often times assumes that most/all designs have to have some sort of meaning.
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