Indigo Arts

July 8, 2003 7:38 AM

Indigo Arts. Folk art from Africa, Asia, and the Americas - barbershop signs, Hindu gods, vodou, Cuban art and more.
posted by plep (8 comments total)

Found originally via Obliterated.
posted by plep at 7:39 AM on July 8, 2003

Very cool link, plep. I'd be all over some of those vodou flags if finances permitted...
posted by widdershins at 10:06 AM on July 8, 2003

Another goodie - very plepish! I love the papier maché sculptures especially. My boss is combing through the gallery link right now, trying to identify the picture in his office ;)
posted by iconomy at 10:17 AM on July 8, 2003

Thanks, plep. Indigo is mysterious colour. Checking the Africa pages, I saw no mention of the desert nomads, the Tuareg, who wear indigo dyed robes. I used to have a tuareg scarf, or 'shesh' (see pic middle right of page) - and knew how to put it on! It turns your neck and forehead blue pretty quickly though.
posted by carter at 10:17 AM on July 8, 2003

Wow, great stuff. Makes me think, though, of one of the very few drawbacks of traveling (aside from expense, and interfering with a "normal" life), which is seeing how little things like these actually cost at the source. Course they send it right to your door, but still...I have an awful time handing over $150 for something the artist got $15 for.

Still, very nice offerings. Love to have a business like this someday - just travel around, picking up stuff (and supporting local artists) to bring back home and sell.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:28 AM on July 8, 2003

wonderful, wonderful, plep - thanks! I am in love with these woodcuts which seem to be priced quite reasonably for original artwork.

carter, thanks for that nice page on the Tuareg - they fascinate me! Interesting story about your scarf - however did you come by it?

gottabefunky, that would be a fun business - count me in!
posted by madamjujujive at 5:00 PM on July 8, 2003

mjj, I got it in El Ayoun (spelling varies), Western Sahara. This was as far south as you could go in Morocco at the time, due to the war. It was also on the extreme north-west of Tuareg territory, and there were a few Tuareg hanging around on the edge of town. The guy from the camp site where I was staying got me one. Wandering off topic, another map, and more info on Western Sahara, scroll down for a link to history. Starting in the 1960s there was a struggle for independence by the Saharawi first against the Spanish and then against the Moroccans, IIRC. I seem to remember the Moroccans bulldozing a barrier of sand along the common border.
posted by carter at 6:29 PM on July 8, 2003

carter, thanks for taking the time to post such good links in response to my question. And in a cultural thread, I think it's very on topic.
Ah, my ignorance of the world is great. This is a sad history for the people and for the country - it never ceases to astound me how modern colonialism still is.

Here, we will segue back to plep since I found this site on plep's blog and quite forgot about it til this post and thinking of the Tuareg - Tribal Photo, a marvelous site. It has some excellent Tuareg photos, as well as some images of their neighbors, the beautiful Wodaabe.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:08 PM on July 8, 2003