Walata

These are from a sketchbook I did in 2005 when I visited the ancient town of Walata in the East of Mauritania,1.300km from the capital, Nouakchott. Walata was a busy town from the XIII century until the XIX, as she was a place where the camel caravans coming from Timbuckt laden with salt had to pass.

What's amazing about this town is that each year after the rain season the women would repaint with her fingers the outside of the houses with elaborated drawings whose symbolisation is lost for most of todays inhabitants. Some of the inner rooms of the houses have alsopaintings covering the whole of the walls. In 2005 some people were already starting to use industrial paints instead of the natural coloured clays found in the region.

I'll post some more drawings in the next few days.