Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Kumasi - Adrinka Cloth Painting

Kumasi is the second largest metropolitan city in Ghana after Accra, the capital. Of the many stops in Kumasi included an Adinkra cloth printing workshop in the Ntonso community. Below are wood printing blocks of various symbols, each with its own meaning. After watching how tree bark was pounded and made into ink, we had the opportunity of printing our own cloth with symbols of choice.



Finished Adinkra cloth on display. Beatiful!

My turn.

I made a friend at the workshop who wanted to teach me how to weave my own cloth. Before I knew it, my shoes and socks were off and I was listening to a 10 year old giving me directions on how to properly work the machine. Easy? no. Fun? Most definitely.

After the entire ordeal, my friend did ask me for a 'gift' of appreciation. I've told NYU this advice already, but while I did give my friend 2 Ghana cedis ($1) as a gift, I wish I had brought trinkets from New York. Note to self, but next time I travel anywhere, always bring numerous trinkets that represent where you're from. No doubt I felt a bit lame handing over a 2 GHC bill when I wish I could have offered something more useful such as an NYU pen or something.


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