From a White Piece of Cloth

Patricia taught me to appreciate all that has come before and to find ways to integrate that richness into the tapestry of what is emerging in life.

She was one of the students I met at the Nike Adire Workshop in Oshogbo, Nigeria. I stood next to her as she steadily pounding a folded length of wax-ladened cloth in a bubbling cauldron of dark green dye. She was overseeing one of many stages in the production of a piece of colourful batik which incorporated the technique and designs of the north Nigerian textile tradition.

Each piece of batik started out as a piece of white cloth onto which a traditional repeated Adire design was drawn. The outline was made in candle wax squeezed from a cotton funnel by the expert hand of one of the designers.

I began to appreciate that rather than being totally unique, each batik was subtly linked to all other pieces generated through the years by artisans. Their traditional designs held the themes of beliefs, traditions and culture, lovingly captured and sealed into what manifested within the patterns on the cloth. This was a creative industry charting the evolution of a peoples’ way of life.