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Fascinating Fabric: Bògòlanfini (Mali)

  • January 6, 2022
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  • Linda Wairegi
Fascinating Fabric: Bògòlanfini (Mali)
Fascinating Fabric: Bògòlanfini (Mali)

The Bògòlanfini is a traditional African fabric from Mali also known as “the African mud cloth”. It has a lot of beautiful, rich and earthy brown colours. It can be traced to the Bamana tribe from Mali where “bogo” refers to “clay or mud”, “lan” refers to “by means of” and “fini” refers to “cloth.”

This African Mud cloth can be traced to the Mandé people in West Africa and Burkina Faso. It’s handmade, and fermented mud dyes the Bògòlanfini fabric. San, a city in the Ségou Region of Mali, is known as the heart of its production. It plays a vital part in the Malian culture, and this includes symbols found on the fabric that have different meanings.

 

Making of The Bògòlanfini

Traditionally, the men weave the fabric on long looms, and they weave cotton fabric strips together into a fabric that’s 1.5 meters long and 1 meter wide. Then, given to the women, and they’re in charge of dying the cloth. From the N’gallama tree known as Anogeissus leiocarpa, its leaves are soaked or mashed and boiled to create a dye bath.

The Bògòlanfini is placed in the dye bath till it turns yellowish, then it’s removed and sun-dried. Simultaneously, women have already collected a special mud from riverbeds and, it’s fermented with plant extracts for at least a year in a clay jar. They use it as special paint to draw beautiful designs on the fabric.

The women can use a metal spatula, a wooden stick or a feather quill to substitute a paintbrush. They use negative space in this artistic process because they focus on painting the background and slowly unleashing the pattern towards the end. This is different from other artists that paint directly on their canvas or fabric.

The chemical reaction between the N’gallama leaves and the special mud means that the cloth retains a brown colour after the mud is washed off the fabric. Finally, soap or bleach is used on the unpainted parts to remove the yellow dye and leave it white. Alternatively, this entire process of fermenting, washing and sun-drying, is repeated several times to intensify the colours. So, over time, this dark brown colour starts taking on different shades of brown, and the white side becomes paler with a light brown-reddish-orange colour.

The Mopti and Djenné region Design

Alternatively, the Mopti and Djenné region has a slightly different approach to making the Bògòlanfini fabric.

They use leaves from the Terminalia avicennoides tree to make a yellow dye, and then black paint is used to paint designs. This yellow dye is removed, and the design can be black and white, or M’Peku bark is used to make a dark orange paint for the fabric.

Towards, the top of the fabric, little polka dots called Tigafaranin are at the upper side of the wrapper, but this isn’t visible when women wear the wrapper. The Tigafaranin symbolizes a beaded belt that Bamana women wear and signifies fertility and seduction. There’s also a pattern that includes a circle with a dot called Koli-so, which represents a loving family or a supportive community.

Fabric That Tells Stories

These patterns tell Malian stories that matter in Malian culture, including history, mythological stories and, proverbs. Mothers apprentice their daughters about how to dye and paint these intricate patterns.

In the older days, the Bògòlanfini fabric was worn by hunters to help camouflage them in the wild, plus it offered ritual protection. Also, after women go through female circumcision or after childbirth, they’re covered in a Bògòlanfini fabric that absorbs blood, baby urine and sweat and protects them from supernatural forces.

Bògòlanfini is a versatile fabric that has been used for traditional clothes, skirts, decorative purposes and fine art by artists like the Groupe Bogolan Kasobané. It’s also made sustainably, and understanding its production process can help improve textile production within Africa. Chris Seydou, a Mali fashion designer has helped Bògòlanfini become recognised in the international fashion market.

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