Kanga Tales, Women Stories
"Kanga Tales, Women Stories" is an exploration of the Kanga, an emblematic East African fabric, and the women who wear it with pride. This traditional Swahili garment, rectangular in shape and brightly colored, is adorned with motifs, drawings and messages, often proverbs, sayings or poems. These messages deal with various subjects such as religion, love or politics, transforming the Kanga into a genuine means of communication.
Continuing my work of portraits of women and maintaining an approach that is both documentary and ornamental, I have deepened the aesthetics of my work to best reflect the history of these women, bearers of messages and traditions.
I invited young Tanzanian women to pose with their kanga in a studio reminiscent of traditional African photography, a tribute to pioneers like Malick Sidibé and Seydou Keita. Their portraits are framed in mats with oval openings decorated with kanga motifs and messages in Swahili, typical of the use of fabric in the region. The set is presented in carved Zanzibar wooden frames reflecting the multicultural influence of the island and which I have enhanced with bright colors.
This project was carried out between 2022 and 2024 as part of an artistic residency with the Alliance Française and the French Embassy in Tanzania.
The complete series is made up of 27 original works.
