Many young designers and artists are exploring the historical ambiguity and cultural integration of African printing. Due to the mixture of foreign origin, Chinese manufacturing and precious African heritage, African printing perfectly represents what Kinshasa artist Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga calls “mixing”. He said, “Through my paintings, I raised the question of what impact cultural diversity and globalization have on our society.” He did not use cloth in his works of art, but bought cloth from the market in Kinshasa to draw gorgeous, deeply saturated cloth and wear it on the Mambeitu people with painful posture. Eddy accurately portrayed and completely changed the classic African print.
Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Forget the Past, Lose Your Eyes
Also focusing on tradition and mixing, Crosby, an American artist of Nigerian origin, combines calico, calico images, and cloth printed with photos in her hometown scenes. In her autobiography Nyado: What’s on Her Neck, Crosby wears clothes designed by Nigerian designer Lisa Folawiyo.
Njideka A kunyili Crosby, Nyado: Something on Her Neck
In Hassan Hajjaj’s comprehensive material work “Rock Star” series, calico also shows mixed and temporary. The artist paid tribute to Morocco, where he was raised, the memories of street photography, and his current transnational lifestyle. Hajjaj said that his contact with calico mainly came from his time in London, where he found calico was a “African image”. In Hajjaj’s rock star series, some rock stars wear their own style of clothes, while others wear his designed fashions. “I don’t want them to be fashion photos, but I want them to be fashion themselves.” Hajjaj hopes that portraits can become “records of time, people… past, present and future”.
By Hassan Hajjaj, one of the Rock Star series
Portrait in print
In the 1960s and 1970s, African cities had many photo studios. Inspired by portraits, people in rural areas invite traveling photographers to their places to take pictures. When taking pictures, people will wear their best and latest clothes, and also hold a lively activity. Africans from different regions, cities and villages, as well as different religions have all participated in the transcontinental African printing exchange, turning themselves into the fashionable look of the local ideal.
Portrait of young African women
In a photo taken by photographer Mory Bamba around 1978, a fashionable quartet broke the stereotype of traditional African rural life. The two women wore a carefully tailored African print dress with flounces in addition to the hand woven Wrapper (a traditional African dress), and they also wore fine Fulani jewelry. A young lady paired her fashionable dress with traditional Wrapper, jewelry and cool John Lennon style sunglasses. Her male companion was wrapped in a gorgeous headband made of African calico.
Photographed by Mory Bamba, portrait of young men and women in Fulani
The picture of the article is taken from——–L Art
Post time: Oct-31-2022