Madagascar: Arts and crafts by give me that straw

"Straw and BAMBOO STRIPS, or softwood of SMALL TREES are the materials used to manufacture objects of everyday life in Madagascar: different straw hats, according to the tribe, carrycots to go shopping, bags and trays for cleaning and transporting rice, mats for the floor ... but also brooms, boxes (fabulous, the Malagasy Tupperware!), and even toys and decorative objects â€" all handmadesometimes in happy coexistence with the flashy colors of Chinese plastics that already reach some sites.

Straw's work is especially visible in street markets, where we can sometimes assist the manufacture of objects and buy them directly to the artist. But the dialogue between who's delighted to see art and manufactured piece, and who makes almost ashamed, is practically impossible.

In Madagascar, the artist believes he's still show their poverty. Only in the areas most exposed to tourism is starting to exist the concept of crafts as art; Here, in the villages where I'm passing between Fort Dauphin and Tulear, makes by hand who can't buy more modern and flashy. A more colorful and durable material than wood or straw. This is another tip of the iceberg gigantic that divides the world into two â€" the "rich" and "poor". And the "poor" definitely do not believe that what they do has value. All that is traditional manufacturing them seems to have the seal of poverty and survival.

And yet these are unique pieces and ancestors. The work is good, solid and creative, without excess detail. The lids fit, rugs are soft, the hats have various sizes, such as those made by machines. The bags are small colorful details, sometimes made with twines. Wooden spoons have stripes that stretch, the figures of cows and humans have humor. And the brooms, frankly, encantariam the most demanding of witches!

RIP a few smiles when you buy several wooden spoons and a box, to a family that makes right there, in the Tsihombé market. It was for the money that is lacking, or for assessing who desperately tried to communicate. At home I can now serve my coconut vary with a genuine scoop â€" and no less genuine feeling of witnessing the final years of an art rejected ... "

Travel journalist, Ana Isabel Martinez has published in Portuguese magazines as the big story, around the world and Routes, Destinations and Spanish &, like Discover and the Altair. Right now she dedicates herself with equal interest to travel and vegetarian food, regularly publishing the findings and oddities in site Landscape eaters. Is the Green Savers reader and writes regularly here.

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