Bisa Butler_Artist As Mentor
African Fabric Textile For this project assignment, we were supposed to choose between a Photo Essay and an Artist as Mentor. But I prefer to find a way to do both. So I decided to fuse both instructions into one. Therefore, on this project, I will explore African Textiles as a visual language in contemporary portrait photography. African Textiles act as another form of identity, history, status, and cultural continuity. Through their different colors, Patterns, and repetition, textiles communicate meaning that goes beyond aesthetics. While studying the works of Bisa Butler and Thandiwe Muriu, this project examines the different translations of the textile traditions into contemporary portraiture and how those strategies can inform my own photographic practice. My Artist Mentor African Fabrics act as another form of visual language that communicates history, identity, and belonging. In this photographic series, fabrics are used not only as decorative backdrops but also as active e...
