Anne Grosfilley deciphers African textiles to promote the continent’s know-how
From the vibrant patterns of wax to the intricate weavings of Kenté, African textiles tell rich and diverse stories. Passionate anthropologist Anne Grosfilley plunges us into the heart of this fascinating universe, revealing the cultural depth and identity behind each thread. A doctor and specialist in African textiles and fashion, as well as a recognized consultant and exhibition curator, this expert shares with us her background, her research and her commitment to promoting African know-how.
For Anne Grosfilley, anthropology is an exploration of the links that unite cultures. “What interests me is what we have in common,” she explains. Her work does not seek a certain form of exoticism in relation to the West. Textiles are at the heart of her research. Indeed, as the body’s envelope and humanity’s first form of writing, textiles offer a unique prism for understanding societies. “Textiles are the memory of peoples”, she asserts, emphasizing the importance of patterns, jewelry and scarification as signs that convey meaning.
Doctor of Anthropology
Her interest in African textiles began with wax. “I found it very paradoxical that immigrant women of Nigerian or Ghanaian origin wore wax made locally, and therefore in England, to express their Africanness.” This observation led her to explore “African textile landscapes” as a whole, beyond wax alone. Thanks to a CNRS research grant, she carried out fieldwork in five West African countries. This immersion enabled her to discover the richness of African craftsmanship and haute couture, with designers who were “completely changing the relationship to textiles and the relationship to the body”.
Culture Pagne, a project to transmit and promote African textile know-how
Her current project, Culture Pagne, supported by Maison de l’Afrique, aims to showcase these skills through a series of films. With a team that includes her husband, historian Claude Boli and director Lisa Cruz, the project aims to reach a wide audience, particularly the younger generations and diasporas.
The initiative was born of a meeting in Abidjan, during the Abidjan Pagne festival. Following a conference by Anne Grosfilley, Youssouf Camara, director of the Maison de l’Afrique, and Ambre Delcroix, a journalist specializing in the continent, wanted to give wider distribution to her work. Initially envisaged as a podcast, the idea evolved into an audiovisual format, drawing on the rich collection of fabrics, looms and textile tools accumulated by Anne Grosfilley in the course of her research.
Culture Pagne’s main objective is to promote African textile know-how, often threatened with extinction by lack of recognition and competition. “I have all these original tools (…) and it’s not in the spirit of a collector, but more in the spirit of proof (…) because unfortunately I’ve been working on these subjects for over 30 years, and there are many things that have disappeared due to a lack of appreciation of these skills”, explains Anne Grosfilley.
Culture Pagne is a series of some fifteen episodes, three of which have already been edited. Each episode explores a specific technique or theme, such as weaving, indigo dyeing, Abomey cloth, bogolan, dyeing, wax, African haute couture, beads and ornaments. Anne’s fifteen-year-old son, Thomas, also contributes to the creation of this content, bringing a younger, more spontaneous perspective.
Is wax African?
This question lies at the heart of Anne Grosfilley’s research. Her interest in this fabric began in her teens, when she discovered that it was made in Europe for African markets. “What interested me was when I discovered as a teenager that wax was actually made in Europe for African markets, whereas for me it was an African fabric,” she confides.
This discovery raised questions about the relationship between Europe and Africa, and led her to conduct in-depth research on the subject. She wanted to explore the origins of this imported fabric, as well as the fabrics made in Africa. In fact, she has broadened her field of research to include all African craft skills.
Although made in Europe, wax has become an important part of African clothing culture, adopted and reinterpreted by African women. It bears witness to cultural and commercial exchanges between continents, and to the ability of African cultures to appropriate and transform external elements to express their own identity.
Transmitting and educating
Through books, exhibitions and, soon, a documentary series, Anne Grosfilley’s ambition is to fill a gap in resources adapted to young people and diasporas, while combating the disappearance of traditional know-how. Faced with the rapid consumption of content on social networks, she stresses the importance of creating sustainable content for the transmission of knowledge. “Every time I do interviews with artisans, I have this kind of responsibility to say I’m going to give them visibility, I’m going to make them audible.”
Anne Grosfilley’s work offers a valuable perspective on the richness and complexity of African textiles. Her commitment to the transmission of traditional know-how and the valorization of artisanal work is a call for a more conscious and respectful consumption of cultures. To find out more, listen to her full interview on the Africa Fashion Tour podcast.
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