Clé (Key)
Berber Girl
Unknown author, 2023
MDF board, acrylic, appliqué, jewellry 35.5x28
Algiers
MDF board, acrylic, appliqué, jewellry 35.5x28
Algiers
How does the traveller see it?
(Fragment of a post from a Facebook page)
This Berber girl on an oval wooden board came from Algeria to Ukraine in November of 2023. There are many interesting details on the artifact, details which the seller wasn’t able to explain the meaning of. And mysteries are exactly the sort of thing that I collect. I’ve managed to discern a few things about the piece, starting with the lines of French text on the top-left of the board:
Key to knowledge.
Protect me from the cold and darkness.
Key to dreams and fantasies,
Dissipate a big black cloud,
And drown it in the river.
Forever.
This is definitely not a prayer; prayers don’t invoke knowledge. I think, rather, that it’s an amulet. On the right side there is a Tuareg cross, which is often referred to as the “Key of the desert”. The Berbers (of Niger and Mali) and the Tuaregs comprise the indigenous population of North Africa, in contrast to the Arab invaders. Pre-Islamization, they practiced Christianity. In the bottom-right corner we see a decorative Kabyle (Berbers of Algeria) flag (as a side note, soccer legends Zidane and Benzema are both Kabyles) and the bottom-left corner features a ceramic “kuvshyn”, which symbolizes a woman who does pottery and also manages to maintain an important role in society––contrary to the demands of Islam.
Below that there is an inscription in the Taqbaylit (Kabyle) language. Who speaks Kabyle, anyone?
Key to knowledge.
Protect me from the cold and darkness.
Key to dreams and fantasies,
Dissipate a big black cloud,
And drown it in the river.
Forever.
This is definitely not a prayer; prayers don’t invoke knowledge. I think, rather, that it’s an amulet. On the right side there is a Tuareg cross, which is often referred to as the “Key of the desert”. The Berbers (of Niger and Mali) and the Tuaregs comprise the indigenous population of North Africa, in contrast to the Arab invaders. Pre-Islamization, they practiced Christianity. In the bottom-right corner we see a decorative Kabyle (Berbers of Algeria) flag (as a side note, soccer legends Zidane and Benzema are both Kabyles) and the bottom-left corner features a ceramic “kuvshyn”, which symbolizes a woman who does pottery and also manages to maintain an important role in society––contrary to the demands of Islam.
Below that there is an inscription in the Taqbaylit (Kabyle) language. Who speaks Kabyle, anyone?
And what do you think?