A-Line-Style

            Henna has a proficient history across North Africa, the Middle East and part of South East Asia (the line from Morocco all the way to the far east of India) - essentially the areas with the climate habitable to grow the henna plant, Lawsonia inermis, - the range of styles the many cultures that use this plant for design and medicine is wide (Fabius, 1998). Everything from strictly geographic lines, ornate swirls, to highly detail natural wild life portraits.

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                Morocco being a mix of Arabic, Berber, and heavy European influence, their style is primarily geometric with highly intricate line work. There is sometimes some animal element integrated into the work, to act as an amulet to ward off or attract particular spirits, but this practice is more common with Berber people than Arab Moroccans (Fabius, 1998). There is a shift in the henna world however, from a highly traditional and spiritual design to one that is more contemporary, western, and multi-cultural.

                What I refer to is the now available tourist sector henna present in the markets and streets of Morocco, presented to tourists as a take-home-cultural-experience. The new designs are not as geometric, nor as intricate or detailed as the traditional henna artisans present, but that does not deny them any less popular, “many of the tourist-sector artisans’ customers are Moroccan, either domestic tourists or expatriates on holiday,” (Spurles, p. 12). The henna these tourist sector artisans produce is considered to be of poor quality compared to the local sector henna art. Local sector artisans will apprentice as a musaa’ida under traditional henna artists at home, considering color, duration, and complexity of design execution before becoming henna artisans in their own right (Spurles, p. 11). They learn a broad range of geometric design vocabulary, something tourist henna artists have no access to and have to resort to self-teaching or learning from other self-taught henna artists (Spurles, p. 83). Without training, their designs and composition of elements deviate from the long standing traditions of established henna practices, both in imagery and placement of henna (Spurles, p. 11). They come up with their own meanings and symbolisms behind their design choices, creating their own cultural stories (Spurles, p. 86).This means that their work has more opportunity to grow into a new art form, a wash with many other cultural influences, deviating away from Moroccan traditional culture into one of its own.

                High quality local henna is recognized by bisected lines for construction, lots of negative space, and uneven lines (Spurles, p. 81). Repeated motifs include vines, flowers and wavy lines or 8 point stars to outline or fill in designs, and sharply defined zigzags are completely absent (Spurles, p. 82). The difference between local and tourist henna is sharp, and the negative treatment the women in the tourist sector receive discourages skilled artisans from working in the tourist sector (Spurles, p. 82). This is not helped by tourist sector artisans possessing neither the connections to local families, nor the technical competence to allow them to leave the market places and work from home as a local sector henna artist (Spurles, p. 82). They cannot even use their own work as evidence of their skill because poor quality henna is recognizable by the local Moroccan and well read-tourist (Spurles, p. 11). This does not mean that tourist sector henna is necessarily bad henna.

Tourist sector henna artists can become quite skilled in time, and take in the many variable styles and cultural values of the wide variety of tourists coming to them to receive henna and make something quite visually appealing. The incorporation of the expressive culture tourist economies attract creates another culture, responding to the new artistic influences (Spurles, p. 84). Tourist henna, for instance, does not follow the Moroccan tradition of always applying henna to the inside of the palm first and always making sure to design both hands symmetrically (Fabius, 1998). This also plays for the feet, where it is more likely to find the bottom of the feet hennaed than the top, and to always have symmetrical designs on both feet; top and bottom. Tourist sector henna artists are more likely to paint one ankle, wrist, shoulder, or part of the neck, making it A symmetrical, a style trait more common in western culture (Spurles, p. 81). These designs are often small, simple, and not time consuming as most tourists only ever plan to spend an hour in the market while on holiday, and only 10-15 minutes in a henna session (Spurles, p. 86). By quickening their work, making it smaller and more compact, as well as easy to place on seemingly random parts of the body, the deviation from the traditional intricate styles presents opportunities for artistic and economic growth within the Moroccan henna world. 

Bibliography

Fabius, C. (1998). Mehndi: the art of henna body painting. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland: Random House Inc.

Spurles, P. K. (n.d.). Henna for Brides and Gazelles.