A Collector of Senegalese Jewelry Tells Her Story

The exhibition "Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women," showcasing jewelry created by master goldsmiths in Senegal in the early and mid-20th century, opened on Oct 24 at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art The show celebrates the gift to the museum by Utah-based art historian Marian Ashby Johnson of more than 250 pieces of jewelry, along with photographs and other documentation.

"I started looking at the markets, but as I got used to things the most exciting place to me was the ateliers of the goldsmiths - blacksmiths and goldsmiths, because at that time they were doing blacksmithing as well as goldsmithing And I would go in and visit with them I was working also at the archives at that time in Dakar.

And I found that there was nothing written on the gold jewelry, except for two articles that were written by young artisans themselves." "Both ethnic groups, Wolof and Toucouleur, have goldsmiths, but they had a lot of connections There are certain aspects to the jewelry that is definitely more Toucouleur than it is Wolof The heaviness and the more solid things is more Toucouleur.

The Wolof is more delicate and light, more filigree There's kind of a weight to the Toucouleur jewelry It just looks more dramatic rather than elegant.

I'm making very broad statements." "Jewelry was very much a part of the whole social situation Every one of the celebrations was always involving jewelry They would wear these beautiful outfits and they'd borrow them or they would buy them or their people would.

And they gave lots of jewelry and fabrics and things at all the celebrations - marriages and baptisms And their grandmother's jewelry was important because they used their grandmother's and their great-grandmother's and their great- great-grandmother's jewelry And they knew something about the goldsmiths that made them" "I think you can tell the love that I have of the people and the jewelry and how it all comes together, and how this is a really unique style and should be better known.

They're never saying"Senegalese art region I think it's time to have some 'ta-dum,' some excitement on gold filigree jewelry from Senegal and these wonderful artisans that have been working so hard over many centuries. . Source