The ethnological museum in Basel owns a significant store of West African textiles that was systematically compiled and documented in the mid-1970s.
The pieces were collected by Renèe Boser-Sarivaxèvanis, curator of the Africa Department at that time, and her assistant, Bernhard Gardi.
They set off on a 16-month journey that took them from Lagos to Dakar. A selection of the collected pieces has been exhibited but never published.
Now to mark the 50th anniversary of independence for many former African colonies, the Museum of Ethnology pays tribute to the beauty of West African textile art which, in its classical form, has all but vanished today. A publication including contributions by international authors is in preparation.

Museum der Kulturen, Basel, CH
8 August 2009 - 16 May 2010