Preparing Dinner
Mopti, a city on the Niger River in Mali: 2001
We visited the home of a trader to buy masks. He made his living going to tribes in the bush and trading with them in exchange for ceremonial objects. African art doesn’t have to be old to be valuable. It is enough to have been used in some of their tribal ceremonies…voodoo ceremonies. How do you know if it has been used in a voodoo ceremony? You don’t. The trader lets you be the judge and you make a guess relying on your experience. We tourists just went for the ones that would look good hanging in our homes.
The trader was a wealthy man by Mopti standards. In the photo above a servant, or slave, prepares the noon meal. She is preparing beans. (I remember eating a fried bean cake from a stand on the street( don’t do that is my advice). Maybe that is what’s for dinner.)
We stood on the roof top and looked down at her…a bird’s eye shot. I like the viewpoint, it’s not common.