The production designer of the highly hyped ‘ Black Panther’ Hannah Beachler , has revealed that a 400-year-old Nigerian language was one of the two languages that inspired Wakanda’s language.
Wakanda is an imaginary nation used as a location in some parts of the flick, Black Panther.
According to reports, Nsibidi, a language formerly used in parts of Cross River, was used repeatedly through the course of the movie as the language of the fictional Wakanda kingdom.
In a recent interview, Beachler ‘noted that the remnants of Nsibidi were pooled with Roman numerals to create an advanced Nsibidi script.
“Using lines and dots, Nsibidi was expanded with an array of symbols, initially inspired by Chinese, Arabic, and Dogon and Murci of Africa,” she said.
“It was a secretive language, based on pictography, so it was about how you put the symbols together and the image you create.
“The language needed to evolve from the older hieroglyphs into a more modern version. We used it in a pictograph way but the numerical system stayed the same.”
“I started looking at different cave drawings, we looked at LA graffiti artist Retna and were inspired by his being able to create these characters that were fresh, and started playing and playing. I did three or four passes and so did a couple of the illustrators. We mixed them, bringing our own aesthetic to it and made an entire alphabet” Beachler reveals how the Nsibidi script were created.