Chief Nikẹ Davies-Okundaye is an inspiration in the world of art in Nigeria and beyond. A fifth-generation indigo artist and gallery owner, her knowledge of the Yoruba fabric called àdìrẹ runs deep.
“My name is Nikẹ Davies-Okundaye, I’m a textile artist, fifth generation from my great-great-grandmother to my grandmother. And I come from a small village called Ogidi Ijumu in Kogi State. But I live in Oṣogbo all my life where the indigo is appreciated. So today I’m going to be talking about the textile of Nigeria, how Nigerians use the textile starting from the new fashion. This is what you call àdìrẹ….Then I have to show you the one that is also painted, this is hand-painted, it’s called àdìrẹ ẹlé̩kọ. Àdìrẹ ẹlé̩kọ means the one you do with your cassava; it’s organic and [2:02] when you look at it it’s almost twenty-two designs here. So you have the pillar of Ìbàdàn; this is called Ìbàdàndun, the whole design is called Ìbàdàndun. This pattern is created in Ìbàdàn and people actually used the pattern to talk, to communicate in those days…but I will tell you just a few of the design, what it means.”
Hear Chief Nikẹ explains more about the significance of patterns in #adire fabrics in the exhibition One Egúngún on view through August 18, 2019.
Posted by Kristen Windmuller-Luna
