Today's outfit is another one directly influenced by African cultures, namely kente cloth. Kente cloth has its origins in Ghana and the Ashanti kingdom. There is a ton of information about kente cloth out in the world - I started with Wikipedia. Like the rest of this project, I really only skimmed the surface of scholarly information available.
Right-click to download and print
The outfit is based on one I found on Pinterest. I loved the drape of the cloth and the idea of holding a large wooden bowl. I knew I wanted to use kente cloth patterns at some point in this project. Kente cloth is highly symbolic. Colors and patterns are very meaningful. The pattern I used is called Fathia Fata Nkrumah. I also saw it referred to as a stars pattern. It symbolizes unity, among other things. As for colors, I chose blue for peace, gold for royalty, green for the land and spiritual growth, and white for pureness and faith. The bowl holds papayas, a fruit that is now grown in tropical regions throughout the world. I was initially going to put apples in the basket but that felt really generic. I also like the technical challenge of the papayas -- I used the good ol' gradient mesh tool in Illustrator. It's a tough tool to master but SO amazing when it works!
We're closing in on the half-way point of the project....plenty more to come!
Love this dress, though I openly confess I don't know I would have known those were papayas if you hadn't told me. Not because of your art, but because, embarrassing as it is to say, I have no idea what a papaya looks like.
ReplyDeleteI thought I commented on this one yesterday, but apparently the internets ate it. I love this dress and I really like the papayas. Though I confess, if you hadn't said, I don't know I would have known they were papayas. Mostly, because I honestly don't think I could identify a papaya if I had too. :)
ReplyDeleteHa! Yeah, I don't know what happened. I went to answer you today and saw that the comment was gone.
DeleteI don't think I'd recognize these as papayas, either. I though about including a cut one but that didn't seem to make sense. If nothing else, the colors of my random fruit work well!
if pressed, i think i could have identified the papayas. it's not a fruit i like (it smells so disgusting), but the shape is kinda unique.
ReplyDeletelove love love the pattern and the drape on this. like the off-the-shoulder style too. super nice!
I totally wouldn't know what an uncut papaya looks like!!
DeleteI love the pattern, too. I thought it would be more difficult to make seamless than it actually was.