What Are Fractals?
Fractals are patterns that repeat themselves at different scales. Whether you zoom in or zoom out, the shape stays similar. You can see them in nature — in trees, river systems, lightning bolts, clouds, seashells, and even galaxies. And fractals also appear in African architecture, textiles, hair designs, and art reflect deep social, spiritual and philosophical meanings.
Fractals in African Architecture
Many traditional African villages are designed with fractal geometry. A small home might mirror the shape of the larger village. A circular layout of huts is repeated in larger compounds, forming networks that echo each other at different scales. Examples of this can be seen in Malian, Ghanaian and Nigerian architecture, among others.
This form of design expresses more than beauty — it reflects how African communities understand the world: as interconnected, cyclical, and balanced. The repeating patterns are a visual expression of harmony with nature and society. They also reflect ideas of hierarchy and family, where each part mirrors the whole.
Fractals in Weaving, Hair and Everyday Art
Fractals can be found in African textiles like kente cloth, kuba patterns, and beadwork, where repeating shapes form complex, layered designs. Hairstyles often use spirals, rows, and branching styles that repeat from crown to nape. These aren’t random styles — they represent identity, lineage, age, and even spiritual status.
These visual patterns communicate meaning without words, embedding mathematics, history and philosophy into everyday life. In this sense, the body becomes a canvas and the community becomes a living work of geometry. To use fractals is to honour rhythm, continuity and complexity. It is to acknowledge that everything has a place in the pattern of the whole.
Tuning into the Universe
The same fractal principles that shape African art and buildings also shape the wider universe. From the veins in a leaf to the arms of a galaxy, the universe itself seems to think in fractals. Some suggest that the Universe itself is a fractal! So in a sense, African design principles are about tuning into something deeper — a universal rhythm or order.
When African builders, artists and weavers use these patterns, they are aligning themselves with the natural structure of life. This makes African material culture artistic, scientific, mathematical and spiritual all at once.
From Past to Future
Let’s not fall into the trap of treating African cultural achievements as relics of the past. Fractals show us something powerful: our ancestors were engaging with concepts that are still cutting-edge in mathematics and science today. The knowledge they carried lives on — not only in museums or dusty books, but in our homes, our clothing, our streets, our stories – even in our very bodies.
Recognising the brilliance of African fractals is about understanding that we have always been thinkers, designers and scientists. By studying, valuing and developing our culture we honour the past and shape the future.
Learn More
Ron Eglash: The fractals at the heart of African designs
How fractals can help you understand the universe | BBC Ideas
