The Tree of Light

In 2010 the Italian architect from Perugia, Matteo Ferroni, began an anthropological study on rural communities in Mali, West Africa: for these villages, night is of great importance in everyday life.

Indeed, sleeping patterns are different from ones in the Western world, and social life mostly takes place at night due to Mali's very high temperatures. People work and do everyday tasks in the middle of the night using petrol lanterns and battery-powered torches, which are expensive and sometimes also dangerous, due to the lack of electricity. After spending some months studying villages in rural Mali, Matteo Ferroni began to explore the cultural aspects of light: he developed the concept of “collective light”, which brought the architect to build the first prototype of transportable light post, which is cheap and easy to manufacture. The project took the name of “Foroba Yelen”, which literally translates to mean  “collective light” in Bambara, the language of the villagers who have welcomed it to their communities.

 The lamp is made from recycled components that are found on the ground: old bicycle frames, hydraulic tubes, aluminum, a solar energy battery and LED modules, which are the only parts that needs to be imported. In doing so, local people can manufacture it for themselves and since it’s light and easy to handle anyone can move it around, from kids to elders. The aim is to light up certain activities and duties rather than entire rooms: the lamp is used by locals for studying, working in the fields, praying; doctors, teachers and veterinarians use it and it is functional for the sale of goods, funerals and festivities. Previously all of this was impossible after sunset. The architect designed his lamp, which represents the shadow of a tree where they meet during the daytime to shelter from the sun, thinking about the social space in some communities in Mali. The project is a perfect mixture nature and culture: the light traces the shadow made by the trees and lights up the scene like a stage, leaving darkness out of the circle. Another sign of collaboration is the collective administration of the lamps: a group of women rent them to the other villages for a small amount of money which is given to the common fund.

Foroba Yelen was rewarded by the “City to City Barcelona FAD Award” in 2012 and to support the project the architect, with the collaboration of Haus der Kulturen der Welt, started Fondazione eLand, which will soon release a handbook containing instructions and technical details for the replication of the lamps, allowing the communities to build them on their own.