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| Folklife Festival 2003 > Mali > Crafts > Arts
of Adornment > Page 1 |
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| arts
of adornment |
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| pg
[1] [2] |
| WOMEN'S ARTFUL WAYS |
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| "A woman without a hairdo is
a house without a roof." -Soumata Sidi, hairdresser |
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| Malian women place
a high value on personal grooming. Before festivals and weddings they
spend days styling one another's hair into truly artistic creations.
Some of the hairstyles have a long history and are associated with
particular ethnic groups; other styles respond more to temporary changes
in fashion. Many of the most sculptural hairstyles, though, whether
old or new, involve the intricate knitting, braiding, and threading
of the hair, the use of hair extensions, and the addition of amber
and glass beads and metal ornaments.
On certain occasions Malian women may decorate
their hands and feet with henna designs. Made from the leaves of
the shrub (Hawsonia inermis), henna is a dye that is applied topically
and lasts for about a month.
Women also regularly use mixtures of perfumed
roots and barks as incense. Burned in terra cotta pots, the incense
makes their house smell pleasant. When they stand fully dressed
above the smoke, their bodies and clothes become suffused with the
scent as well.
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| Coming to the Festival... |
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| Henna Artist, Aminata Doumbia,
Bamako |
| —Aminata Doumbia is a Henna artist.
The designs, usually applied to women's hands and feet at the time
of marriages and baptisms, now have become fashionable all the time,
even for young urban women. |
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| Hairdresser, Soumata Sidi,
Gao |
| —Soumata Sidi is a
hairdresser. She also makes beads for hair and for necklaces. The
different hairstyles she creates reflect the social the status of
her clients: young women, newly weds, new mother of a boy or girl
child, mother of twins, or grandmother. |
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| Hairdresser, Kadidia Ouologuem, Bamako |
| —Kadidia Ouologuem
makes incense, underskirts, and braids hair. |
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| pg [1]
[2] |
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