Follow me ....
On a walk through the Kuba Forest.
An exhibition at the Hamill Gallery, Boston Massachusetts.
The textiles on show are traditional tribal raffia textiles from the Kuba kingdom in the Congo. The long pieces you see are actually skirts 8 to 25 feet long, which are wrapped around the wearer meany times. These skirts incorporate appliqued patches, embroidered shapes and patterns, openwork, tie-dye, cowrie shells and barkcloth.
Living far away in South Africa, I'm not going to get to Boston to see it but the website is so wonderful that I feel almost as fortunate as those who can see it in person.
A magical world of repetition ........
...... and rhythm ......
... striking pattern ......
.... and colour.
The piece you see below is an example of Shoowa cloth, a highly prized cut pile textile which was often regarded as a sign of status and sometimes even exchanged as currency.
Look out for Hamill's new website, Hamill Tribal Textiles.com
