More Girls

I’m left with one more illustration and then I’m basically done. Then I will try some colour variations. They could really work this way too as indigo blue is also kind of iconically African. I have a few wax print clothes in blue and it is a common colour scheme as blue combined with white is worn for example when someone gives birth (especially to a boy) for example. I still want to experiment with some really bright multicolour schemes.

Some of these illustrations are not so obviously African. The silhouettes kind of blur the line making the characters somewhat universal. I am hoping the patterns and many the colour combinations would draw associations closer to Africa. I do ran risk of using another stereotype of what is African. Wax print is after all not really originally African thing.

Wax print is something that many, including myself, think when Africa is mentioned. It is certainly not the whole truth about African textiles. There are other originally African textiles I could have utilised. One of them is the Ghanian textile called kente. Kente however consists of only abstract motifs (albeit they have symbolic meanings). As for other textiles from other countries I don’t have very much knowledge. Perhaps I should have shown more respect to the culture I’m depicting and done more research instead of just using what I’m familiar with.

As I look at the characters I recognise I have given them clothes that resemble the uniform of a cleaning lady. My aim was rather to give her a simple t-shirt and skirt. I could have shown her wearing jeans or shorts but I wanted to give something more traditional underlining her femininity and traditional values. Why did I want to make her so traditional? Is this yet again one of those fixations of what is Africa? I should probably try to make a version where she is wearing something less traditional. I’m also thinking I could add one drawing with some modern technology.