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African Handicrafts and Photography:Competitive or Complimentary Relationship?

By Aggrey Marami

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 31Jul2009 Word count: 492 Viewed: 289 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Photography is a process or art of creating still or moving pictures using a camera. It is based on the physical properties of light and requires high technology. Handicraft ,on the other hand, is the art of making utility and decorative items completely by hand or using simple tools. Examples of this include wood carvings, soapstone sculptures and hand woven bags and baskets. It is not surprising therefore that photography has been for the more developed western countries while handicraft has been an art for the less developed countries like Kenya. But how do these two arts relate to each other in today's global village?

In this article, I will restrict the discussion to situations in the East African game parks where majority of visitors (tourists)to these countries end up in, thereby making the game park a potential convergence point for african handicraft and photography. Visitors to these parks are not allowed to remove anything from the parks as exemplified by one stern warning I recently saw at Lake Manyara Game Park in Tanzania. It read "Do not take anything from the park except: Nourishment of the soul, Consolation for the heart and Inspiration for the mind". The visitors could, therefore, legally carry only photographs they had taken in the park or any of the various wood and soapstone carvings readily available at the gate. Is this enough?

To answer this question, one needs to look at these two arts more critically:

- African Handicraft: The most common forms of sculptures in East Africa generally represent human or animal form and in wood or soapstone. Wood carvings are more popular with the artisans because wood is found all over East Africa unlike soapstone which occurs only in Kisii, in western Kenya. In addition, wood being more malleable, offers less challenge to the artisan who is equipped with basic and not very advanced tools. But hard wood, with its tendency to crack more easily than soft wood, attracts more experienced and better equipped artisans. Hardwood also withstands damage by insects and weather changes better. Hardwood carvings, therefore, are not only more durable but should be of higher quality. With informed choice, therefore, a visitor to the park can acquire wood carvings and soapstone sculptures that are of high quality and very representative of the real thing. These are available in many varieties ,and are unique. Unlike photography, all are three dimensional. Moreover, with the internet, all these products are also available online.

- Photography: In photography a game park visitor can take both still and motion pictures with very portable equipment. But the equipments are relatively expensive and the pictures are not three dimensional.

To a game park visitor, therefore, African Handicraft and photography are like opposite ends of the same thing. Used in combination and done correctly, the two arts work synergistically and should never compete with each other as they provide full and total satisfaction to the game park visitors.

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