Independence · 1961–1990
What hands made: country cloth spun and woven on the narrow loom, gara dyeing, baskets, pots, carving and smithing.
Many were made by colonial officials, missionaries and foreign visitors. Titles and descriptions come from the collections that hold them and can carry the attitudes and language of their time. We show them as historical records, not as endorsements. Dates, eras and categories were assigned automatically from those records and some will be wrong. If you or your family appear in a picture, you hold rights to one, a detail is wrong, or you think a picture should not be here, press “Report this picture” under it: your note reaches our editors with the picture attached, and they can take it down straight away. You can also write to hello@dt-ets.com.
The Cotton Tree 1970
Photographed in October 1970.
Batobureh · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Clay pot, bottom view, Kabala, Sierra Leone (west Africa) 1967 (2782735346) 1967
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Clay pot, side view, Kabala, Sierra Leone (west Africa) 1967 (2782733674) 1967
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Women with baskets, Freetown, 1967 1967
Original title: Woman
Martinsson, Erik · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
A house in the English colonial style, Freetown, 1967 1967
Original title: Building, house
Martinsson, Erik · Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Blue and purple gara lappa with diagonal white lines 1982
Original title: Cloth
Kadiato Kamara · Public domain (CC0) · Wereldmuseum (National Museum of World Cultures) · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Blue and purple gara lappa with diagonal white lines (second cloth) 1982
Original title: Cloth
Kadiato Kamara · Public domain (CC0) · Wereldmuseum (National Museum of World Cultures) · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Green-brown gara cloth with white zigzags 1982
Original title: Cloth
Kadiato Kamara · Public domain (CC0) · Wereldmuseum (National Museum of World Cultures) · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Dark blue gara cloth with a light blue tied pattern 1982
Original title: Cloth
Kadiato Kamara · Public domain (CC0) · Wereldmuseum (National Museum of World Cultures) · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Rust-brown gara cloth with rows of tied marks 1982
Original title: Cloth
Kadiato Kamara · Public domain (CC0) · Wereldmuseum (National Museum of World Cultures) · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Girl's gara wrap skirt with tied circles 1983
Original title: Wrap skirt
Kadiato Kamara · Public domain (CC0) · Wereldmuseum (National Museum of World Cultures) · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Ronko: dyed and stamped trousers, jacket and cap (Limba: huron) 1983
Original title: Costume
Public domain (CC0) · Wereldmuseum (National Museum of World Cultures) · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Cloth 1983
Public domain (CC0) · Wereldmuseum (National Museum of World Cultures) · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Embroidered cotton gown, Musaia In the museum by 1974
Original title: Costume, garb
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Round cap embroidered all over in coloured flat stitch, Musaia In the museum by 1974
Original title: Headdress, costume, garment
Public domain (CC0) · Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm · Source ↗ · Report this picture