Creation of Indoor Sculptures Using Metal and Glass Inspired by Selected Swahili Kanga Inscriptions
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Date
2024
Authors
Atieno, Onyiso Sachbear
Muoki, Matthews
Wango, Kamau
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
EANSO
Abstract
The ‘Kanga’, a colourful printed cloth wrapper, is one of Kenya’s coastal
region’s most well-known cultural items and has deep cultural, historic and
economic significance. In their creation, the Kangas contain inscriptions on
them that propagate sayings, proverbs, and pithy phrases in Kiswahili. The
inscriptions are located on the lower border and are frequently surrounded
and highlighted by various patterns or background colours. The Swahili
inscriptions not only impart specific messages to the viewer but are also used
to convey feelings, thoughts, and inspire. Despite sculptures being
traditionally used as avenues for artistic expression based on many sources
of inspiration, this study found no evidence to indicate that Swahili Kanga
inscriptions have been used as inspirations in the creation of sculptures in
Kenya. It is envisaged that it is possible to extract meaning from inscriptions
and interpret the embedded meaning through a three-dimensional artistic
genre such as sculpture from which viewers can draw meaning and visually
subscribe to. In view of this gap, this study sought to develop the creation of
indoor sculptures placed in public spaces that derived their creative
inspiration from selected Swahili inscriptions printed on the Kanga. The
sculptures were executed using a combination of metal and glass. The
proverbs used in this study were already documented and published and the
inherent meaning was therefore already transcribed. Creativity of the artist
was applied to generate ‘visual meaning’ based on visual interpretation
derived from and responsive, as much as possible, to the meaning contained
in the proverb itself. However, the proverbs were purposively selected to
best navigate and demonstrate the interpretation process from written to
visual. Hence, this study applied an exploratory research design in exploring
Swahili inscriptions on Kanga. The paper presents data on sculptural idea
development and creation of indoor sculptures.
Description
Article
Keywords
Inscriptions, Kanga, Pithy Phrases, Proverbs, Sculpture, Visual Interpretation
Citation
Atieno, O., Muoki, M., & Wango, K. (2024). Creation of Indoor Sculptures Using Metal and Glass Inspired by Selected Swahili Kanga Inscriptions. East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 7(1), 74-95. https://doi.org/10.37284/eajass.7.1.178