Wedding or Herder’s Blanket (khasa or kaasa landaka)

Artist Artist Unknown

Dateearly-mid 20th century

MediumHandspun sheep wool, dye

Dimensions(without fringe): 53 1/2 × 104 in. (135. x 264.2 cm)
(with fringe): 53 1/2 × 110 in. (135.9 × 279.4 cm)

ClassificationsTextiles

Credit LineGift of Reginald and Celeste Hodges

Object number2020.9.6

On View

On view

Label TextWomen of the nomadic Fulani commission these blankets for their cattle- or sheep-herding husbands. These blankets provide physical protection from cold nights and mosquitoes and spiritual protection from the “evil eye.” During the months of weaving, the woman pays the weaver (maabo) with lodging and food. More expensive blankets are ones that take longer and incorporate more protective symbols, such as kulnej gutumo (bird’s eyes), which this particular kaasa is covered in. Thus, in exerting their power over an entire sector of the economy, female patrons take ownership of the safety of their husbands.

This label text was guest authored by UNC–Chapel Hill student and NCMA curatorial intern Sarah Frisbie.
["The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2022]ProvenanceCreated Mali or Guinea, probably early 1970s. Sold to Reginald and Celeste Hodges in Bo, Sierra Leone, early 1970s [1]; collection of Reginald and Celeste Hodges, Durham, NC; given to NCMA, 2020.

[1] Purchased by the Hodges’s from a neighbor in Bo, Sierra Leone, who had acquired it from a relative in Guinea.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–October 8, 2023.

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