- Artists Profiles
- Africa
- East Asia and the Pacific
- Europe and Eurasia
- Near East
- South and Central Asia
- Western Hemisphere
- All 2010 Artists
- All 2009 Artists
- All 2008 Artists
Fatim Diallo
Mali
Year(s) attended: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Leather Work
Fatim is from Fururu, a small Mali village in the desert near the border of Mauritania. At the age of seven Diallo’s grandmother began to teach her the tradition craft of leatherwork.
The stunning geometric patterns Fatim inscribes and paints on her leather bags and pillows are shared by nomadic peoples like her people, the Fulani, but also the Tuareg and Berber. Such bags are used to decorate newlyweds’ homes and also to carry foods such as couscous and dried camel meat.
Since Fatim’s appearance at the 2007 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market she has been able to expand production in her village, and now employs several other leatherworkers who now have a means of livelihood.
