Art and Activism: 50 Years of Africana Studies at KU
Strip-woven cloths illustrate the longevity and vigor of artistic exchanges on Islamic trade routes. They were historically made by itinerant male Muslim weavers in open market spaces who used narrow, portable looms to weave long, slender bands that once served as currency throughout West Africa. Weavers assembled these strips to form patterned cloth for ceremonial fabrics and clothing.
The play between horizontal and vertical lines in this cloth from Kano, Nigeria, illustrates the gendered expertise required for cultivating indigo, hand-dyeing fibers, and weaving cloth. In this example, a male artist carefully pieced together the woven strips so that the blue and white patterns span the width of the cloth. The deep indigo color is associated with Kano, where the dyeing of textiles in pits with a mix of indigo, water, potassium, and ash was passed along family lines from the late 15th century.
Written by Ashley Offill
Art and Activism: 50 Years of Africana Studies at KU
Strip-woven cloths illustrate the longevity and vigor of artistic exchanges on Islamic trade routes. They were historically made by itinerant male Muslim weavers in open market spaces who used narrow, portable looms to weave long, slender bands that once served as currency throughout West Africa. Weavers assembled these strips to form patterned cloth for ceremonial fabrics and clothing.
The play between horizontal and vertical lines in this cloth from Kano, Nigeria, illustrates the gendered expertise required for cultivating indigo, hand-dyeing fibers, and weaving cloth. In this example, a male artist carefully pieced together the woven strips so that the blue and white patterns span the width of the cloth. The deep indigo color is associated with Kano, where the dyeing of textiles in pits with a mix of indigo, water, potassium, and ash was passed along family lines from the late 15th century.
Written by Ashley Offill
Race, Gender, and the "Decorative" in 20th-Century African Art: Reimagining Boundaries
Strip-woven cloths illustrate the longevity and vigor of artistic exchanges on Islamic trade routes. They were historically made by itinerant male Muslim weavers in open market spaces who used narrow, portable looms to weave long, slender bands that once served as currency throughout West Africa. Weavers assembled these strips to form patterned cloth for ceremonial fabrics and clothing. The play between horizontal and vertical lines in this cloth from Kano, Nigeria, illustrates the gendered expertise required for cultivating indigo, hand-dyeing fibers, and weaving cloth. In this example, a male artist carefully pieced together the woven strips so that the blue and white patterns span the width of the cloth. The deep indigo color is associated with Kano, where the dyeing of textiles in pits with a mix of indigo, water, potassium, and ash was passed along family lines from the late 15th century.
Race, Gender, and the "Decorative" in 20th-Century African Art: Reimagining Boundaries
Strip-woven cloths illustrate the longevity and vigor of artistic exchanges on Islamic trade routes. They were historically made by itinerant male Muslim weavers in open market spaces who used narrow, portable looms to weave long, slender bands that once served as currency throughout West Africa. Weavers assembled these strips to form patterned cloth for ceremonial fabrics and clothing. The play between horizontal and vertical lines in this cloth from Kano, Nigeria, illustrates the gendered expertise required for cultivating indigo, hand-dyeing fibers, and weaving cloth. In this example, a male artist carefully pieced together the woven strips so that the blue and white patterns span the width of the cloth. The deep indigo color is associated with Kano, where the dyeing of textiles in pits with a mix of indigo, water, potassium, and ash was passed along family lines from the late 15th century.
