Cloth with Lizard (alangba)
early 20th century
Plain cotton shirt material from Europe began arriving in Nigeria at the beginning of the twentieth century. It remained at the very bottom of the Yoruba scale of status until indigo dyers seized the medium. Their resist processes creatively transformed the cotton into canvases. Not hours, but days of effort were required to complete one cloth, the fine lines and details painstakingly achieved by painting cassava paste on with a feather.
Cotton; factory woven plain weave; paste-resist (adire eleko); natural indigo dye
78 9/16 x 78 3/8 in. (199.5 x 199 cm)
Gift of the Christensen Fund
2001.976
