Art in the Basement: Mandingo Gara from Sierra Leone

Abstract

In the spring of 2006, however, while a graduate intern at the Missouri Folk Arts Program, I was able to observe firsthand an artist as he created art in what may seem the most unlikely of settings—a basement in urban St. Louis. That day I traveled with folklorist Deborah Bailey to visit with Mahmoud Conteh, a master of Mandingo tie dye, and his apprentice Salieu Kamara, one of eight apprenticeship teams in the 2006 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. Debbie and I visited them to observe and document the progress of their apprenticeship.