Groupe Bogolan Kasonbane is an artist collective from Mali with a studio, shop and gallery.  They are innovators and pioneers in the bogolan fine arts movement, researching the traditions of the bogolan people , the language of the marks and colours encoded in the bogolan cloths.  All this was in danger of being lost , they have abandoned modern art painting methods and have worked with traditional Mali art materials such as vegetal pigments found in clay and plant dyes, using them on locally grown, hand woven cotton cloth.
Wikipedia 2012


Where does Mud Cloth originate from?
It must be remembered that the Bogolanfini cloth is made in Mali, West Africa.  Therefore it is a Malian cloth, to just call it an African fabric is too wide.  In an article in the Guardian.co.uk/fashion-blog. Hannah Rise, Features Editor of ARISE magazine, a luxury global African Quarterly, berates those in fashion who group African designs, calling them African, tribal, ethnic etc.  She quite rightly points out that Africa is a Continent not a Country, it is like describing a fashion trend as 'European' inspired ... this is meaningless as Italian style is different from French style, New York from LA, Liverpool from London.  The same is true for Africa, Nigerian fabrics, patterns and influences are different to those of Ethiopia, South African fashion does not call on the same references as Somali.