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.
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.
Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.
