Minneapolis Institute of Art
Prayer mat
Sakalava artist
- Date
- second quarter of 20th century
- Medium
- Raffia, natural dyes, ikat
- Culture
- Sakalava
- Department
- Arts of Global Africa
- Institution
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
Praying to God five times a day, Muslims make use of their “portable mosques”—prayer mats like this raffia version from the Sakalava people of Madagascar, the large island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of East Africa. Its design repeats the outline of the Arabian-inspired mihrab, the niche in mosques indicating the direction of Mecca, while its ikat tie-dye technique originated in Indonesia.
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