Small colourful woven baskets
Africa,  Crafts,  Lens-Artists,  Sunday Stills,  Themed galleries

Gallery: Africa on display

October 10, 2023 / 77 Comments

Everywhere you walk, every place you go is full of art, explicit or hidden! If you can see them, you will be the richest art collector and your memory will be the richest art gallery!

Mehmet Murat Ildan, Turkish playwright

How true is that! And if you carry a camera, I contend, you are more likely to see that hidden art.  

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

Edgar Degas

For this week’s Lens Artists challenge, set by Ann Christine on the theme of ‘On display’, I want to take you to Africa, and to the colourful displays of various crafts for sale in Marrakesh, Cape Verde, Senegal and Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe). From textiles to baskets, lanterns to slippers to spices. In the souks, in the markets and beside the roads. It’s a shopper’s paradise, yes, but also a photographer’s. And look at the money you save if you bring these home as images rather than the actual goods! Having said that, I can rarely resist just one purchase: a small lamp from Marrakesh, a bracelet of wooden beads from Senegal, and just once, a large throw from Morocco … But most of my ‘riches’ are in my photo archive and my memories.

And with so many textures, in the baskets, carpets, lamps and more, I just have to double-dip with Terri’s Sunday Stills’ ‘Textures‘ theme!

Small colourful woven baskets

Basket display on a market stall in Ngueniene, Senegal

[the similar ones in my feature photo are from Marrakesh]

Large colourful woven baskets

Baskets displayed for sale at our hotel in Sal, Cape Verde

Bright coloured straw baskets on paved ground

Baskets for sale in the Djemaa el Fna, Marrakesh

Aluminium buckets stuffed with colourful leather slippers

Leather slippers in a Marrakesh souk

Buckets with piles of spices labelled in English, French and Arabic

Spices on display in a Marrakesh souk

Hanging lamps with detailed metalwork

Still in Marrakesh, lamps for sale in the Rue Riad Zitoun el Jdid

Hanging lamps with detailed metalwork

And in one of the souks

Brightly painted conical clay pots

Tagines for sale in Marrakesh – strictly for display only, not suitable for cooking

Terracotta chickens and cows

Pottery display on a market stall in Ngueniene, Senegal

Carved wooden toucans and guinea fowl

Display at a souvenir stall in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Bright coloured shopping bags and scarves hanging on rails

Display of bags and scarves outside a shop in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Lengths of bright fabrics with African motifs

Fabrics displayed outside a shop in Sal, Cape Verde

Lengths of bright fabrics with Cabo Verde and No Stress slogans

Part of the same display in Sal, Cape Verde

[‘No stress’ is something of a motto for the islands]

Bright t-shirts on hangers under a shop sign

A display of T-shirts outside a shop in Sal, Cape Verde

Large rugs hanging on a wall by a dusty road

Rugs for sale displayed outside a house in the Ourika Valley, Morocco

Large rugs hanging on a wall by a dusty road

The display outside a carpet warehouse on the road between Marrakesh and Essaouira

Two women passing a wall hung with brightly coloured rugs

Rugs hanging in the Rue Riad Zitoun el Jdid, Marrakesh

I visited Marrakesh in 2009 and 2016, Senegal in 2016, Cape Verde in 2018 and Botswana also in 2018

77 Comments

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