Learning and creating designs with African Fractals
Many African designs are based on "fractals" -- patterns that repeat themselves at many scales (also called "scaling patterns"). To learn more you can order the book African Fractals by clicking here Creating fractals with recursive line replacement
Mathematicans
in the 19th and early 20th century invented several fractal patterns.
Later Benoit Mandelbrot showed the practical application to modeling natural objects: This fern is classic, and many algae are good examples, as are lungs. I've looked at clouds from both sides now. Fractal shapes abound in traditional African designs, from architecture to textiles. Logone-Birni, a fractal city in Cameroon Mokoulek, another fractal village in Cameroon Modern fractal architecture in Africa: Kitwe Community Clinic Creating fractals with transformational geometry
One African fractal design that is also part of African American innovation in the U.S. is the scaling pattern of cornrow hairstyles. Another scaling design from Africa is this Mangbetu ivory sculpture Numeric recursion
Some examples of recursion in African material culture are numeric. The "marching formation" in the game of Owari offers insight into African concepts of iteration, self-organization, and related phenomena. Click here to experiment with these numeric patterns. |