| Nederlands | Children's crossing in Senegal |
| Kédougou, XII.2003; pict. H. De Meyer | Dakar, XI.2000; pict. W. Van Landuyt | |
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| Senegal is a country where it's still possible
to find some lovely children's crossing signs. The design of those signs
is clearly based on the old French examples.
They even copied the habit of text inclusion. The text is sometimes
blanked out afterwards; leaving the panel with a somewhat unbalanced
composition.
The drawing of the children is most interesting. We recognize two series of which one stays faithful to the original French design (lower row; notice that the drawing is embossed). |
The other set of panels
features a much more detailed drawing in particular in the face.
It is one of the rare occasions where the boy gets a real head
(Find a second case in Germany.).
Take a closer look at the boy. He's staring at something hair-raising, I would say. I've never seen another boy with such a huge crest. He is probably L'homme de Montbazon at an earlier stage. The mouth-parts of both children are very obvious, perhaps to suggest the chattering of the young ones on their way to school. |
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| Tambacounda, XII.2003; pict. H. De Meyer |
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This is too bad. In the beginning Senegal took the nice old-fashioned signs from France, did even add a local touch but, instead of being proud, finds it still necessary to import the flat modern design (barely appropriate word) of the same country. Mediocre characterless design always wins. It's one of the basic laws of human behaviour. Sigh. Read more about French influences in France and Madagascar. |
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| Thiés, XI.1998; pict. E. Kuyken |
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