Women are beautiful in Mali ...
Despite gender inequality, illiteracy, female genital mutilation (!), early marriage and pregnancy, polygamy (becoming rarer), women have their pride, care a lot about their look and are apparently less compliant if compared with their Islamic North Africa.

I traveled Mali by bus, stopping here and there for interaction with the locals.

And always wondered how, in a place where dust goes up into Ziploc plastic bag, and the houses are made of mud, women look this flawless. Lotus flower ...
A show of colors, patterns and chins up. After a few hours I realized that carrying bucket of water on the head actually contributes to posture.

The photos below were taken in a rite of passage in the Dogon, an amazing place of cliffs and villages that haven't changed in centuries. In this ritual, the oldest of the town takes the position of spiritual leader - after the death of his predecessor - dressed in white, received donations of money and moved alone to the top of the cliff.
Inhabitants of neighboring villages also attended the ceremony on top of the cliff. Lines of visitors, like ants, were seen approaching in an explosion of colors, especially blue indigo, used in these special occasions.
Everything is very, very, mystical here. Little by little I will tell you about my day with artisans or hiking, and my nights on the roof of the houses where we slept watching the stars.

Que bonitas são as mulheres no Mali...

Apesar da desigualdade entre sexos, analfabetismo, mutilação genital (!), casamento e gravidez precoce, poligamia (tornando-se mais e mais raro), as mulheres têm seu orgulho, são altivas, cuidam-se muito e, aparentemente, são menos submissas, se comparadas às suas companheiras islâmicas do norte da África.

Percorri o Mali de ônibus, com paradas aqui e ali, e muita interação com os locais.

Perguntava-me como, num lugar onde poeira entra até em plástico Ziploc, e as casas são feitas de barro, as mulheres podem ter aparência tão impecável. Flor de lótus...
Um show de cores, estampadas e olhares ao horizonte. Depois de algumas horas entendi que carregar balde d'água na cabeça de fato colabora para a postura.

As fotos abaixo foram tiradas em um ritual de passagem no Dogon, um lugar incrível de falésias e vilarejos que pararam no tempo. Nesse ritual, o mais velho da vila assumia a posição de líder espiritual - apos a morte de seu antecessor, vestia-se em branco, recebia doações em dinheiro e passaria a viver sozinho no alto da falésia.
Habitantes dos vilarejos vizinhos também participaram da cerimônia no alto da falésia. Filas de visitantes, como formigas, eram vistas se aproximando numa explosão de cores, especialmente azul, o índigo, usado nessas ocasiões especiais.
Tudo é muito, mas muito, místico por aqui. Pouco a pouco vou contando sobre meus dias com os artesãos ou de caminhadas, e minhas noites no teto das casinhas, onde dormíamos olhando as estrelas.

Marché aux Puces in Europe

I am a junkie... I admit.

This one was last sunday, yesterday, here in Geneva. On friday I was already happy :)
Waking up, coffee & croissant at St Honore patisserie, Le Monde newspaper, and off to the market. A glass of wine here and there between talks and shots (have you realized how cheerful meals are in these markets? Behind the products there is always a table with cheeses, wine, salami, bread, olive oil shared by neighbors... I love this savoir-vivre).
Could have bought (oh well, let's say potentially) several items... This market was specially appealing for industrial design lovers. Buying or not, it's soooo ,uch fun to go and see and talk that was enough... for now (already planning my next weekend).

Oh, downloaded this iphone app to add an effect to the images :) It just highlights le cotè vintage of the pics.

More soon :)


Estou viciada... Admito.

Mercado de antiguidades do último domingo, ontem, aqui em Genebra. Na sexta-feira eu já estava feliz:)
Acordar cedo, café e croissant na patisserie St Honoré, ler o Le Monde, e ganhas as calcadas em direcao ao mercado. Um copo de vinho aqui outro ali, entre conversas e fotos (você já percebeu como as refeições são alegres nesses mercados? por trás dos produtos há sempre uma mesa com queijos, vinho, salame, pão e azeite, compartilhada pelos vizinhos ... adoro esse savoir-vivre).
Poderia ter comprado (oh, bem, digamos que potencialmente poderia) vários itens ... Este mercado foi especialmente atraente para os amantes de design industrial. Comprar ou não, estar ali ja é tao divertido que no final estou sempre satisfeita... por enquanto (já planejo o meu próximo fim de semana).

Oh, baixei u no meu iPhone que adiciona efeitos às imagens:) Para destacar o lado vintage das fotos.

Ate o proximo mercado :)

La vie en bleu... the color of the sky, of the sea, of the night...
Let's dig a bit about the story of west-african indigo, where our pieces come from.

Pays Dogon – Mali

Archaelogical evidence found at Bandiagara indicates that Dogon people have being using indigofera plant for dyeing cloth for at least a thousand years. Locally and organically grown, hand-harvested and dried in the sun, balls of crushed leaves are left to soaking, fermentation with traditional potassium, oxidation in a vat. following the dogon tradition, hand-woven stripes of organic cloth are stitched together and hand-knotted to create the pattern (resist dyeing process). To archieve the desire hue of blue, clothes are dipped repeateadly in the vat, exposed to the air then immersed again, in a process that take days or weeks. the process is then finished by removing the knots, washing and punding the fabric.

In Pays Dogon, indigo dyeing is an exclusive female affair performed by a few families only.

Revered for its beauty, indigo is associated with dignity, intuition, spirituality; specially worn in ceremonies and rituals.

Here a few pictures of indigo from west-africa and other parts of the world (1 - Paul Grootes, 2 and 3 - Pia Ulin, 4 and 5 - so sorry, can't find it. Please let me know if you know). How do you like it?