Togo Edition
Regional/Cultural Day
Applique Abomey Gbe
The applique textile art of the Fon people, practiced in Togo as well as Benin, involves cutting colored cloth into shapes and sewing them onto a background fabric to tell stories of kings, battles, and Vodun spirits. Each banner takes weeks to complete, and the artisans learned from their fathers, who learned from theirs. The patterns are not decorative. They are historical documents, religious texts, and family records stitched into cloth that can be read by anyone who knows the language of symbols.
