Figure - woman

The figurine represents a woman with a vessel on her head. In the Dogon country, potters are always the wives of blacksmiths. Pottery making is not their only occupation, as, like other Dogon women, they are primarily concerned with children, family and daily household chores. The local potters produce all the earthenware vessels needed in a household, from small (about 50 ml), used for preparing spices, to very large (even 50 l) for brewing beer and storing drinks. Dogon vessels have similar shapes, their bellies are always spherical, they differ only in size, edge form and size of the spout, as well as in the way they are decorated. Unfortunately, they are not very durable, easily chipped and cracked, the walls crumble and the vast majority of them are used up within one year. The vessels in which women brought water from wells or water reservoirs created during the rainy season were most often destroyed (broken). In Dogon country, especially on the Plateau and the rocky debris adjacent to the Bandiagara Escarpment, women climb steep stone paths to fetch water. Carrying a heavy clay vessel filled with water on their heads is quite an art in such conditions. Today, for practical reasons, women carry water in large 20-25 litre plastic canisters. They are lighter, airtight and even if a woman trips or a water container falls, she does not lose the vessel or its contents. Plastic canisters have now completely replaced clay vessels used for transporting water, but for other activities, despite the presence of plastic and metal vessels of various shapes in the markets of Nagoya, clay vessels made by the wives of blacksmiths are still used.

Ewa Prądzyńska