Bogolan cushion

Bogolan cushion. Certainly the best known of truly "African" textiles, bogolan is a hand-woven fabric with cotton threads that is dyed using a traditional technique common to Burkina Faso, Guinea and of course Mali. Bogolan means "from the mud" in Bambara (language of the Mandingos, the ethnic group of the southern Sahel). After dyeing the cotton canvas, the artist paints the patterns by hand using fermented mud and decoctions of tree bark. The symbolism of the motifs is unique and finds its meaning in the daily life of rural people or in the history of the village. Each model is unique.