Cloth
Maker
Nigerian
Label TextPlain 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.
Object number2001.977
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Indigo, May 9 - Oct. 19, 2003.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Mood Indigo: Textiles from Around the World, Apr. 9 - Oct. 9, 2016.Credit LineGift of the Christensen Fund
Dimensions74 x 70 1/16 in. (188 x 178 cm)
MediumCotton; factory woven plain weave; paste resist (adire eleko); natural indigo dye
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