Kôrô is a small village located 7 km from Moundou, the second city and the economic capital of Chad. It is an atypical village, largely perched on rocks. Kôrô is also a compendium of cultural values proudly assumed by its holders.
In the village of Kôrô, many men are blacksmiths (masters of fire) and their wives are potters, these centers of interest partly dominate the atmosphere of life within the community whose natives are bôbô.
The potters of Kôrô
When we talk about potters, we mean “women from the blacksmith caste”.
These women are hard at work. A task that has nothing to do with that of men. In a petrichor that engages the air, the latter masterfully knead a clay soil. With skilled hands, they shape pots and other utensils. The manufacture of these pots and canaries has a secret jealously guarded by these caste women. In their working process, they use the fire of the forge to cook the earth. This gives the utensils their rigidity.
The pottery, an art
It is not enough to look at how pots and canaries are made to decide to make them too. It’s an art, it’s a technique coated in secrets passed down from generation to generation. It is moreover much more a socio-cultural identity than an economic activity.
A disappearing ancestral culture
Today, young girls are no longer interested in this profession. They think it’s an unprofitable job. However, its traditional character takes precedence over its financial aspect. In Kôrô, we are afraid that one day the potters will become rare to perpetuate this profession.
This is where the Kôrô pottery workshop was born as part of the project on behalf of Art with the support of the French Institute of Chad (IFT), the French Development Agency (AFD) and Talents d’Ailleurs.
More than 300 people from the village of Kôrô participated in these workshops. Those who had almost lost this ancestral practice took pleasure in sharing this little human and artistic moment with the queens of Gaoui coming from Ndjamena as well as with the pottery of Grenoble in France. A meeting of different backgrounds around pottery in the village of Kôrô: a wonderful idea to bring everyone together around the tradition of potters!
Discover in pictures the prettiness and richness of this exceptional cultural moment!
A slideshow of Mawndoé Célestin’s photos:
