kanga
- Museum number
- Af2003,21.3
- Description
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A rectangular machine-printed yellow and black cotton cloth, kanga, with a continuous patterned border of 'bull's eye' motifs, enclosing a central design containing alternate crosses and floral patterns. Just above the centre of the lower border is an inscription in Kiswahili written in the Arabic script: WAJA WA SITARA TUMESTIRIKA, KILA LA IZARZA HALITATUFIKA - "We are well protected and nothing bad will happen to us".
- Production date
- 1990s (?)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 154 centimetres
-
Width: 107 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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-
- Curator's comments
- kangas are printed and purchased in pairs, then cut into single cloths before wear. Inscriptions in the Arabic script continued until the 1960s when the Roman script largely took over, though they are still occasionally printed in the Arabic; this example probably dates from the mid-1990s and is a modern version of the traditional wedding kanga, kisutu, with its distinctive 'crosses and tangerines' design
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- good
- Acquisition date
- 2003
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af2003,21.3