Indigo Arts' Philadelphia gallery space is closed as I move upstairs to a new space on the fourth floor of the Crane Building. I hope to be up and running again later in May, on a "by appointment or by chance" basis. Meanwhile, the Indigo Arts online gallery is operating as usual, though shipments may be delayed a bit. Please feel free to contact me with any questions in the mean time.
Thanks,
Tony
These wonderful beaded animals and dolls are created by enterprising women living in the townships surrounding Capetown, South Africa. The work has come to us from a project to employ and empower women in the townships of Mandela Park, Khayalitsha and Phillipi. The MonkeyBiz Project provides each woman with the glass beads and pays cash for each doll or bag she produces. The 320 women and men currently participating in the project are producing a variety of one-of-a-kind dolls and bags. In designing and creating these artworks, the women draw on and renew the rich artistic traditions of their several ethnic groups - Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, Sotho and others. In thse works the bead artists of the Cape townships are creating a new, often humorous and sometimes quite startling synthesis of folk traditions.
