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“The Gurunsi (Kassena) tribe live in fortified houses in the Tiebélé region on the border of Burkina Faso and Ghana. The Gurunsi women create beautiful abstract frescoes that decorate the walls of their mud huts, situated in a round formation. The Gurunsi architecture, known for the beauty of its functional lines, inspired the Swiss vanguard architect Le Corbusier. Architecture-balar.com
I don’t know why the world is like this!!! I don’t know how we got here. The politics, the inequalities and the feeling that anything pertaining to Africa; its people, its cultures, the black skin, its varying cuisines etc -is immediately perceived as inferior -primitive, having less value then its western counterpart - is crazy but we [Ghanaians/Africans] have unconsciously bought into this untruth!!!
I don’t know why …but I cried watching the above film clip, its sooo beautiful and elegant -and our sister in Burkina Faso (I believe this was filmed more on the that side of the boarder) -quietly painting and lovingly looking after her neat home -really moved me and got me thinking….can you imagine these breathtaking beautiful Gurunsi homes; found mainly on the boarders of northern Ghana and Burkina Faso -on a much grander scale in Accra? Can you imagine them made out of concrete -say, with wooden doors and glass windows -covered in the same exquisite designs or in Adinkra symbols? I would pay good money to live in one -wouldn’t you? Why don’t we value our art, our homes, our designs etc?
Tive o prazer de conhecer essa região e essas pessoas: um povo lindo e um lugar maravilhoso!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is very inspiring to read what is written about the Gurunsi people in which I am a part. I remember my mother and her peers labor in the hot African sun trying to keep record of what was transferred to them. Yes, African women without a day of European indoctrination following the footprints of their ancestors. I just don't feel proud, I am living the recognition of my people's architecture - that is not borrowed, not stolen but created.
ReplyDeleteDon't understand why it would move you to tears. I was not born in GH, but have lived there for many years. In Gh we celebrate all the various cultures that make up GH as a whole, and each one takes pride in preserving this and passing it on from one generation to the next. Stand proud.
ReplyDeleteA "primitive" art, in which expressiveness, spontaneity and the emotional involvement it is capable of generating are everything and formal rigor has almost no place! Very fascinating!
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