African Textiles Today - Hardcover

Christopher Spring

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1588343804 ISBN 13: 9781588343802

Publisher: British Museum Press, 2012

Synopsis

African Textiles Today illustrates how African history is read, told, and recorded in cloth.

All artefacts or works of art hold within them stories that range far beyond the time of their creation or the lifetime of their creator, and African textiles are patterned with these hidden histories. In Africa, cloth may be used to memorialize or commemorate something - an event, a person, a political cause - which in other parts of the world might be written down in detail or recorded by a plaque or monument. History in Africa can be read, told, and recorded in cloth.

Making and trading numerous types of cloth have been vital elements in African life and culture for at least two millennia, linking different parts of the continent with each other and the rest of the world. Africa's long engagement with the peoples of the Mediterranean and the islands of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans provides a story of change and continuity. African Textiles Today shows how ideas, techniques, materials, and markets have adapted and flourished, and how the dynamic traditions in African textiles have provided inspiration for the continent's foremost contemporary artists and photographers. With a concluding chapter discussing the impact of African designs across the world, the book offers a fascinating insight into the living history of Africa.

About this title

About the Author

Chris Spring is curator of the African collection at the British Museum. He is the author of numerous books on African art and culture including African Arms and Armour, North African Textiles and African Art in Detail (British Museum Press), and Angaza Afrika: African Art Now (Laurence King Publishing).

Edition details

• Publisher: British Museum Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1588343804
• ISBN 13: 9781588343802
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256