Adinkra
アディンクラ / 19th century– / Style / Symbol Systems
The Akan symbol system compressing proverbs into figures — stamped on cloth with gourd blocks, one shape carrying one thought, a working graphic language.
Figures that carry proverbs / Gourd-stamp printing / Repeating grids / Cloth of mourning and rite
Dictionary entry
- Best used for
- Comparing primary sources and canonical works · Extracting principles that transfer to other media
- Type
- Observe the letters, signs and scale of reference works
- Composition
- Extract the one structure that governs gaze and information
- Material
- Verify the materials and behaviors specific to era, region and process
- Caution
- Don't reduce it to surface signs. Verify the context of era, region, technology and makers.
- Further study
- Gye Nyame and Sankofa / the mapping of proverb to sign / reuse in contemporary identity