Object Details
- Label Text
- Taking Malagasy fibers and weaving them in new directions is Zoarinivo Razakaratrimo, Madagascar's pre-eminent fiber artist. Zo took up weaving relatively late in life--in her forties--as a creative outlet, but it soon became a full-time artistic career. Her works, such as the large wall hanging called "Craziness" that incorporates Malagasy spices, such as vanilla and cinnamon, and found objects such as pens, phone cards, and chains demonstrate her three-fold artistic goals:
- -to break through the "limitations of the two-dimensional weaving plane;
- -to promote the rich cultural and natural heritage of Madagascar; and
- -to show the beauty in the ordinary.
- For years, Zo worked in isolation, experimenting and creating for herself. Today, she is well-known in both local and international art circles who appreciate her inventive approach to textile arts that creatively blend the local and the global. She has won juried prizes at international art exhibitions, such as the Dak'Art international biennial in Senegal in 1999. In 2000, she opened her own boutique, Zo Artiss', offering one-of-a-kind interior furnishings. She continues to make "crazy" textiles for her own pleasure and, occasionally, for sale.
- Description
- Four-panel off-white loose-weave wall hanging with a wealth of natural and "found" objects woven and inserted into the weft of the fabric. The panels are not of symmetrical size or decoration. One panel is ornamented with a dense arrangement of almost translucent bean pods. Another panel has cinnamon, cloves and vanilla fiber woven into the weft. A third panel has unspun and spun silk fiber of brown and off-white colors in the weft. A final panel has a wealth of found objects inserted into the weft, including metal chains, plastic phone cards, a plastic ballpoint pen and metal pen cap, plastic clothes pin, shells, batteries, unraveled cassette tape, paper clip, and an electric plug. Edges are hemmed.
- Provenance
- Purchased from Zoarinivo Razakaratrimo, Madagascar, 2000
- Exhibition History
- Gifts and Blessings: The Textile Arts of Madagascar Malagasy, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, April 14-September 2, 2002
- Published References
- Fee, Sarah. 2002. "Cloth in Motion: Madagascar's Textiles Through History." Objects as Envoys: Cloth, Imagery, and Diplomacy in Madagascar, edited by Christine Mullen Kreamer and Sarah Fee. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 87, no. 51.
- Content Statement
- As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
- Image Requests
- High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
- Data Source
- National Museum of African Art
- Maker
- Zoarinivo Razakaratrimo, born 1956
- Merina artist
- Date
- 2000
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase
- Medium
- Sisal, raw fibers, spices, bean pods and found objects
- Dimensions
- H x W: 150.0 x 195.0 cm (59 1/16 x 76 3/4 in.)
- Type
- Textile and Fiber Arts
