Project Description
This design is one of many I have done on myself so far during these strange times when I can’t responsibly do henna for other people. It is really very difficult that I can’t do what I love, doing henna at large festivals, weddings, and all of the other kinds of gatherings of people that have been cancelled due to COVID-19. Taking the time to do persnickety, detailed henna designs like this for myself is a luxury I don’t often have in the summers. While I can’t exactly say I’m glad to have the time to spend on this sort of extreme version of self care, self henna does at least give me something to do to stay connected to this art form that I love so much. The less I can do it for others, though, the more I realize that the sense of connection to others that I get from doing henna really is a large part, and even the majority, of what I love about it.
Part of me is a bit worried about what it’ll mean to post designs like this to my portfolio, as I know that people do turn to it for ideas of what I might be able to do for them… and I really do need to point out that this design took inordinately long to complete. I’m not sure exactly how long, but I would say for *sure* over half an hour, and maybe even an hour or more. I get in a bit of a zone where time doesn’t matter when I am creating these meditative, repetitive patterns, so it’s hard to say… But it is definitely clear to me that this design took far longer than even the average Indian bridal palm design, due to its very precise and geometric nature. So what I’m saying is that I don’t actually wan’t to do this design for you, dear clients, whether it be for your wedding or at a festival…because in either case, I absolutely worry that you wouldn’t be getting your money’s worth, in a dollars-per-amount-of-coverage sort of sense. There’s going to be a LOT of that kind of thing posted to my portfolio for a while here, as I catch up on posting photos from throughout these times of maintaining social distancing.
I really look forward to when I can do henna for other people once again. I am really hoping that we have a vaccine by March 2021, so that by the time April 2021 and its accompanying festivals come around, we will be able to meet up again for henna once more.
For other Mauritanian designs, please be sure to check out my ebook, Mauritania.
You can find a few more other Mauritanian designs here.