Eccentric silhouettes in glossy colors, animals, people, fruit and landscapes. Tinga tinga paintings are a very typical art in Tanzania, that it is very common especially in the coastal areas.
It is something that you can somehow find in every crafting market and curio shop, in a wide variation of small and big canvas and boards. Art for the touristic market, of course, but art with a history as well.
"Tingatinga paintings" by Moongateclimber - Own work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
At the beginning, around 1968, was a Tanzanian painter, Edward Said Tingatinga, who started to use several layers of bicycle paint on masonite. Just a way of producing art keeping a low cost, but creativity and unicity became soon an added value.
In fact, when Tinga Tinga passed away in 1972, many other artists started to try to reproduce the same style and figures, and the social and economic changes occurring during years made it even more various and rich.
After Tingatinga's death, his direct followers Ajaba Abdallah Mtalia, Adeusi Mandu, January Linda, Casper Tedo, Simon Mpata, and Omari Amonde tried to organize themselves. Relatives of Tingatinga also joined this group, which would be later called the "Tinga Tinga Partnership".
In 1990, the Tingatinga Partnership constituted itself into a society, renamed to Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society (TACS), which is now recognized as the most authoritative representative of this artistic current, even if just a few Tinga Tinga artists are actually members.
Tinga Tinga is a registered trademark, and TACS has been licensing its intellectual property worldwide for more than 20 years. Among its sub-licensees are BBC, Walt Disney, Penguin, Heye, FIFA and many others.
TACS art studio can be visited in Oyesterbay, Dar Es Salaam.
Everyday up to 6pm.
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