Nike Davies-Okundaye | |
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 Okundaye in 2019 | |
| Born | Nike Okundaye 23 May 1951 Ogidi, Kogi State, Nigeria |
| Known for | Textile artist |
| Spouse | Twins Seven Seven (divorced) |
| Website | www |
Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye (born 1951), also known as Nike Okundaye, Nike Twins Seven Seven and Nike Olaniyi, is a Nigerian Yoruba and adire textile designer. She is best known as an artist for her cloth work and embroidery pieces. [1]
Nike Okundaye was born May 23, 1951 in Ogidi, Kogi State, in North-Central Nigeria, [2] and was brought up amidst the Yoruba traditional weaving and dyeing as practised in her home town. Her parents and great grandmother were musicians and craftspeople, who specialized in the areas of cloth weaving, adire making, indigo dyeing and leather. [3] She learned how to use the loom to produce cloth during the time she lived with her great grandmother Ibitola (“Red Woman”). [4] She spent part of her early life in Osogbo, Western Nigeria, modern-day Osun State. Growing up in Osogbo, which is recognized as a major centre for art and culture in Nigeria, [5] young Nike was exposed to the indigo dyeing and adire production that dominated her informal training. [6]
Over the past twenty years, Davies-Okundaye has conducted workshops on traditional Nigerian textiles for audiences in the United States and Europe. She had her first solo exhibition at the Goethe Institute, Lagos, in 1968. [3] She is the founder and director of four art centres that offer free training to more than 150 young artists in visual, musical and performing arts, comprising more than 7,000 artworks. [3]
Finding that the traditional methods of weaving and dyeing that had been her original inspiration were fading in Nigeria, Davies-Okundaye set about launching a revival of this aspect of Nigerian culture, building art centres offering free courses for young Nigerians to learn traditional arts and crafts. As art historian John Peffer states, "One thing shared by many of the latest generation of African artists in the diaspora – those who have been successful on the art circuit – is that their work critiques the very burden of representation that is also the condition of their visibility." [7] In her view, the traditional art of Adire Eleko is only possible because of a specific Nigerian heritage of passing knowledge from one generation to the next. In a video interview published by Nubia Africa, Okundaye states that "school can only teach what they [art students] already know." [8] According to a CNBC Africa interview, she trained more than 3,000 young Nigerians for free and she continues to help by funding many poor to establish their small businesses and art workshops in different parts of Nigeria.[ citation needed ]
Davies-Okundaye's adire and batik textiles use visual themes taken from Yoruba history and mythology, as well as visual themes inspired by her own life experiences and dreams. [9] According to Kim Marie Vaz, folklore often intermingles with personal experiences to express disheartening subjects regarding female suffering. Folklore that Davies-Okundaye was exposed to through evening stories spoken by the village elder, addressing social issues centred on the female suffrage, in which Davies-Okundaye uses folklore figures to express her concerts on the female suffering through her batiks that portraying the goddess Osun (i.e. "Mother of Africa") communicating on ideologies and social norms placed females in constrained positions. [4]
Davies-Okundaye strives to improve lives of disadvantaged women in Nigeria through art. She teaches the unique techniques of indigo cloth-dyeing (Adire) to rural women at her workshop in south-west Nigeria. She hopes to revive the centuries-old tradition and the lives of these women. [10] Adire – that which is tied and dyed – is native to the Southwest region of Nigeria. The freehand dyeing is sometimes known as "Adire Eleko". "Adire" refers to indigo dye, and "Eleko" refers to the boiled cassava, lime, and alum-resist technique used to create patterns. [11] There is a strong tendency to keep dyeing recipes and methods secret from inquisitive outsiders. [12] Davies-Okundaye chooses to continuously reference adire patterns in her artwork because adire is a women's art and was taught to her by her mother. Adire pattern motifs were traditionally passed down from mother to daughter, and the designs themselves have virtually not changed in form over time. [13]
Davies-Okundaye was featured on CNN International's African Voices, which features Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring their lives and passions. [14] Her painting is permanently displayed at the Smithsonian Museum as of 2012, and her work is also part of the collection of the Gallery of African Art and the British Library in London and at Johfrim Art and Design Studio. [15] She holds the chieftaincy titles of the Yeye Oba of Ogidi-Ijumu and the Yeye Tasase of Oshogbo.
Davies-Okundaye was included in the 2019 show I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art in Washington, D C. [16] In April of the same year, she was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by Rhodes University during its annual graduation ceremonies. [17]
Nike Davies Okundaye has two sons (Olabayo David Olaniyi and Mofolorunso Olaniyi) and four daughters (Oluwaseyi Awoyomi, Caroline Davies, Allyson Aina Davies, and Ameh Okundaye). She was previously married to fellow Nigerian artist prince Twins Olaniyi Seven Seven, but their marriage ended in divorce. She later married David John Davies and they had two daughters. Her current marriage is to Reuben Okundaye, Nigerian ex-police commissioner and the father of her youngest child.
A book about Nike was written by Kim Marie Vaz, The Woman with the Artistic Brush: A Life History of Yoruba Batik Artist Nike Okundaye. [18]
Nike Davies-Okundaye is the recipient of honours from numerous esteemed cultural institutions. She has served on the UNESCO Committee of the Intangible Nigerian Heritage Project. She has been honoured as the CEPAN Foundation Art Icon of the year. Davies-Okundaye has given workshops and lectures at universities world over. [19] [20] [21] [22]
In 2024, She was given the U.S. Exchange Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award to recognise her significant contributions to the arts and longstanding cultural relationship between the U.S. and Nigeria. [23]
Batik is a dyeing technique using wax resist. The term is also used to describe patterned textiles created with that technique. Batik is made by drawing or stamping wax on a cloth to prevent colour absorption during the dyeing process. This creates a patterned negative when the wax is removed from the dyed cloth. Artisans may create intricate coloured patterns with multiple cycles of wax application and dyeing. Patterns and motifs vary widely even within countries. Some pattern hold symbolic significance and are used only in certain occasions, while others were created to satisfy market demand and fashion trends.
Osogbo is a city in Nigeria. It became the capital city of Osun State in 1991. Osogbo city seats the Headquarters of both Osogbo Local Government Area and Olorunda Local Government Area. It is some 88 kilometers by road northeast of Ibadan. It is also 108 kilometres (67 mi) by road south of Ilorin and 108 kilometres (67 mi) northwest of Akure. Osogbo shares boundaries with Ikirun, Ilesa, Ede, Egbedore, Ogbomosho and Iragbiji and it is easily accessible from any part of the state because of its central nature. It is about 48 km from Ife, 32 km from Ilesa, 46 km from Iwo, 48 km from Ikire and 46 km from Ila-Orangun; the city had a population of about 200,000 people and an approximate land area of 126 km. The postal code of the area is 230.
The wrapper, lappa, or pagne is a colorful garment widely worn in West Africa by both men and women. It has formal and informal versions and varies from simple draped clothing to fully tailored ensembles. The formality of the wrapper depends on the fabric used to create or design it.
African textiles are textiles from various locations across the African continent. Across Africa, there are many distinctive styles, techniques, dyeing methods, and decorative and functional purposes. These textiles hold cultural significance and also have significance as historical documents of African design.
Resist dyeing (resist-dyeing) is a traditional method of dyeing textiles with patterns. Methods are used to "resist" or prevent the dye from reaching all the cloth, thereby creating a pattern and ground. The most common forms use wax, some type of paste made from starch or mud, or a mechanical resist that manipulates the cloth such as tying or stitching. Another form of resist involves using a dye containing a chemical agent that will repel another type of dye printed over the top. The best-known varieties today include tie-dye, batik, and ikat.
Adire (Yoruba) textile is a type of dyed cloth from south west Nigeria traditionally made by Yoruba women, using a variety of resist-dyeing techniques. The word 'Adire' originally derives from the Yoruba words 'adi' which means to tie and 're' meaning to dye. It is a material designed with wax-resist methods that produce patterned designs in dazzling arrays of tints and hues. It is common among the Egba people of Ogun State.
Aso oke fabric, is a hand-woven cloth that originated from the Yoruba people of Yorubaland within today's Nigeria, Benin and Togo. Usually woven by men and women, the fabric is used to make men's gowns, called agbada and hats, called fila, as well as Yoruba women's wrappers called Iro and a Yoruba women's blouse called Buba and a gown called Komole, as well as a head tie, called gele and so on.
Hmong Textile Art consists of traditional and modern textile arts and crafts produced by the Hmong people. Traditional Hmong textile examples include hand-spun hemp cloth production, basket weaving, batik dyeing, and a unique form of embroidery known as flower cloth or Paj Ntaub in the Hmong language RPA. The most widely recognized modern style of Hmong textile art is a form of embroidery derived from Paj Ntaub known as story cloth.
Ìjùmú is a Local Government Area in Kogi State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Iyara. Other towns in the local government include Ayetoro Gbede, Iyah-Gbede, Ayegunle Gbede, Araromi Gbede, Ayere, Ayeh Gbede, Okoro Gbede, Odokoro Gbede, Ekinrin-Adde, Egbeda Egga, Iyamoye, Ogidi, Ikoyi, Otungba, Oton-Ade, Origa, and others. The people of Ìjùmú speak the Okun dialect of the Yoruba language. The main occupation is farming among men, while women are engaged in trade. Education is the major industry in Ìjùmú.
Susanne Wenger MFR, also known as Adunni Olorisha, was an Austrian-Nigerian artist and Yoruba priestess who expatriated to Nigeria. Her main focus was the Yoruba culture and she was successful in building an artist cooperative in Osogbo. She partnered with local artists in Osogbo to redevelop and redecorate the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove with sculptures and carvings depicting the various activities of the Orishas.
Nike Art Gallery is an art gallery in Lagos, Nigeria owned by Nike Davies-Okundaye. The gallery is one of the largest of its kind in West Africa, it boasts a collection of about 8,000 diverse artworks from various Nigerian artists like Chief Josephine Oboh Macleod.
Peju Alatise is a Nigerian artist, poet, writer, and a fellow at the National Museum of African Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution. Alatise received formal training as an architect at Ladoke Akintola University in Oyo State, Nigeria. She then went on to work for 20 years as a studio artist.
Peju Layiwola, is an art Historian and visual artist from Nigeria who works in a variety of media and genre. She is listed as a "21st Century Avant-Garde" in the book Art Cities of the Future published by Phaidon Press. She is currently a Professor of Art and Art history at the University of Lagos and has been described as a "multi-talented artist." Her works can be found in the collection of Microsoft Lagos, Yemisi Shyllon Museum, Pan Atlantic, Lagos and homes of private collectors such as JP and Ebun Clark and the Obi of Onitsha.
Jane Morris Barbour, néeGalbraith (1922–2012) was an English writer and social campaigner. She wrote on African art, particularly African textiles, and on the Arts and Crafts movement.
African design encompasses many forms of expression and refers to the forms of design from the continent of Africa and the African diaspora including urban design, architectural design, interior design, product design, art, and fashion design. Africa's many diverse countries are sources of vibrant design with African design influences visible in historical and contemporary art and culture around the world. The study of African design is still limited, particularly from the viewpoint of Africans, and the opportunity to expand its current definition by exploring African visual representations and introducing contemporary design applications remains immense.
Tunde Odunlade, born 26 November 1954, is a Nigerian artist, actor, and musician known for his Batik art tapestry and designs. He specialises in textile arts, and floatography. He is a member of the Visual Artists Network of the United States of America (VAN) and a frequent participant at the National Conference of Artists, New York. He was a performing actor with the Nigeria Cultural Troupe during Festac. He lives in Ibadan, the southern western part of Nigeria.
The fashion industry in Nigeria plays an important cultural role and contributes significantly to the country's economy. Clothing incorporates a variety of colours, fabrics, and embellishments. Many of the component cultures of Nigeria wear styles that are characteristic of their tribal society and customs. Nigeria produces fashionable textiles and finished garments and has designers who have achieved international recognition.
Yoruba clothing is the traditional clothing worn by people of the Yoruba ethnic group in parts of Nigeria, Benin and Togo in a region called Yorubaland. The clothing reflects the rich culture, history and aesthetic preferences of the Yoruba people.
Aso Olona is a traditional Yoruba textile known for its intricate geometric patterns and cultural significance, particularly among the Ijebu subgroup. The term "Aso Olona" translates to "cloth with patterns" in the Yoruba language. Aso Olona is an handwoven fabrics that can come with motifs like the chameleon.
Reviews the book The Woman with the Artistic Brush: A Life History of Yoruba Batik Artist Nike Okundaye, by Kim Marie Vaz.
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