I recently revisited a favourite book of mine African Canvass The Art of West African Women by Margaret Courtney-Clarke. I actually bought this book quite some time ago and it has been a real influence on me. The writing is clear and informative and the photography also has a clarity and beauty.

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I have hand painted much of the decoration in my own home and some of the work featured in this book has directly inspired the patterns painted on the walls of my sitting room.

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The book has as it’s focus the impermanent and disappearing art of mural painting by women in West Africa. It is an attempt to address the neglect of “traditional rural life in Africa as expressed through women’s art”. I have a deep interest in women’s art created in and for domestic environments and purposes and this book always proves inspiring to me.

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