Script and graphic patterns also enliven the spaces of rural and urban Africa, much as they do in the rest of the world. From commercial advertisements and graffiti to the decorative embellishments of people's homes, the spaces in which we live, work, play and worship are powerful venues for communication. Indeed, writing and graphic patterns help transform space into place.
These images are a sampling of how writing and graphic systems intersect in creative and artistic ways with spaces in Africa. Inscribed spaces are intimately connected to the human body, to notions of gender and identity, to religious beliefs and practices, to expressions of power and resistance, and to aesthetic concepts and the arts.