Àdìrẹ cloth (Yoruba)
Maker Once Known, Yoruba People (Nigeria)
Àdìrẹ cloth (20th century)
cotton, indigo dye
184.0 x 137.0 cm
Gift of Shirley McRae
95-20-1
This is an Àdìrẹ cloth, a 'tied and dyed' cloth in Yoruba, which was collected in 1972. Àdìrẹ is a form of tie dye, or resist dying, in which the person dying the cloth creates patterns by blocking access to the fabric during the dying process. In Nigeria, this is done by Yoruba and Hausa women through a process of tying knots in the fabric, creating folds, covering the textile with raffia, or excluding sections of the cloth from the indigo dye pits. An exhibit at the V&A featured Àdìrẹ textiles and outlined the various ways they are produced:
"Àdìrẹ are indigo-dyed cotton cloths decorated using a resist-dying technique to create striking patterns in blue and white. They were traditionally made and worn by women throughout the Yoruba region of south-western Nigeria, West Africa. The cloths were usually made up of two strips of factory-produced cotton, sewn together to form a shape that was roughly square, and worn as wraps around the body....The cloths were usually prepared, and always dyed, by women. Their bright colour comes from imported indigo grains or locally-grown indigo leaves, which were fermented and mixed with water softened with caustic soda to make a dye. The cloth would be dipped into a large pot of dye, and then pulled out to allow it to oxidise – a process which could be repeated to make the colour darker....Before dyeing, the cloths would be treated in a variety of ways to prevent certain parts of the fabric from absorbing dye. This would create the patterns revealed after the dyeing process. Raffia and starch were the two most common forms of resist-dyeing used."
This Àdìrẹ was created using a "sticks and stones" technique. In African Textiles author John Gillow describes how this kind of concentric circling or spiraling pattern is created, saying "Concentric circles of ties radiate out from the middle until the tied, but undyed, cloth has a cone shape. Beans, grains of rice or chips of wood may be inserted into the ties to fill them out, or they may be merely sections of fabric teased up and tied with raffia or cotton...sometimes stone are inserted into the bunches to control the shape of the resist area" (Gillow 2003: 64). You can see a picture of a Hausa woman using this technique, creating that cone of knotted fabric, in the image to the left. As is typical of Àdìrẹ cloths, this piece is comprised of four pieces of cotton cloth, that have been sewn together ahead of time to create a large enough piece for this wrap, and then the whole thing would have been tied and dyed.
While this Àdìrẹ was likely intended for use as a woman's wrap, it has also clearly been used as an art piece in its own right. Shadows of a stretcher can be seen along the edges of this piece, and differences in the coloring of the cloth between the center and the edges (what would have been the back when the Àdìrẹ was mounted on a stretcher) indicate that this textile hung on display for a period of time before coming to the museum in 1995. While many textiles are sensitive to fading and discoloration with light exposure, this is especially true of indigo. We are happy to have a way to share this piece without risking further discoloration through this digital format.
This page has paths:
- The Things that Make a Home Jessica Nelson
- Clothing - Wearable Art Jessica Nelson
- Decorative Techniques from Around the World Jessica Nelson