RAIN SPOUT (CROCODILE DESIGN)
[1,2]: RAIN SPOUT (CROCODILE DESIGN)
[3, 8-12]: Different rain and gutter spout designs, fixed within the walls to channel rain off of the buildings. They all follow common proportions for their function (mouth open to let water out, back hollowed out to catch fallling water, legs represented and tucked in close to the body to create a streamlined, tubular form, for example), yet each example has its own style, ranging from realistic to more abstract [eg. 8] installed in earth and stone [eg. 11,12] buildings.
[4,13]: Crocodiles are considered totems and are a common motif amongst the everyday things and environment of the Dogon from carvings on doors, to the design of locks and rain spouts, and relief sculptures on buildings in these instances.
[5,6]: The Bandiagara Escarpment (a UNESCO heritage site) is the heartland of the Dogon people.
[7]: The Dogon revere and protect the crocodile which they consider sacred. Within their beliefs, crocodiles are agents of water spirits (Nommo) and can help summon rainwater, which makes this rain spout design an intentional choice
From: Dogon culture, Mali 🇲🇱 & Burkina Faso 🇧🇫Source [1,2,8]: africandesertcrafts.com/adventures-in-mali/dogon-country-pays-dogon-bandiagara-escarpment-mali/
Source [3]: ID 21235031 | Bandiagara © Michele Alfieri | Dreamstime.com
Source [4]: Dogon house in Mopti, Mali 🇲🇱 © Daniel W on Flickr
Source [5,6]: By Ferdinand Reus from Arnhem, Holland - Pays Dogon, CC BY-SA 2.0 @wikicommons.pics
Source [7]: Clip from “Fearless men relationship with the sacred reptile in Africa I SLICE” by Slice on YouTube
Source [9]: ID 26443176 © Michele Alfieri | Dreamstime.com
Source [10]: © 2011, David C. Conrad
Source [11,12]: © Dec 1 2006, Brian J McMorrow, Crocodile shaped water spout(s) out of a stone building in Tereli (Mali 🇲🇱)
Source [13]: By Senani P at en.wikipedia, CC BY 2.5 @wikicommons.picsObservations:
functional ornament, formal harmony, material awareness and context, zoomorphism, continuation of a strong design language, visual and formal contrast, connection/spirituality/feeling as a core design principle and philosophy