The Yorùbá Blues Lucille Junkere 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments 1 Introduction 2 UK Collections 3 Lagos 5 Abẹòḱ uta 9 Ìbàdàn 14 Dyeing 15 Osogbo 17 Recommendations 19 References 20 Picture Credits 23 Glossary 25 Acknowledgments The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and the Heritage Crafts Association for the wonderful opportunity to travel to Nigeria to study Yorùbá indigenous àdìrẹ making. Nigeria Chief (Mrs) Nike and her husband Reuban Okundaye for their generous support and encouragement and staff from Nike Art Gallery and Foundation in Lagos. Professor Olusẹgun Okẹ, Doig Simmonds (UK) and Pat Oyelọla editors of Adire Cloth in Nigeria Àdire makers and dyers including Gàníyù Kàrímù , Baba Salieu, Jumoke Maryam Akinyemi, and Baba alaro from Àdùnní Art, Olalekan Adegun Adesoye and apprentice from Ade Omo Ade Art Gallery and staff, teachers and students from the Nike Center for Art and Culture, Òṣogbo Mayowa Kila for Yorùbá translation Curator Ige Akintunde Olatunji and colleagues from the National Museum of Abeokuta Professors Oladele O. Layiwola and Ohioma Ifounu Pogoson and Oluwatoyin A. Odeku from the Institute of African Studies My wonderful Lagos hosts Baba Winfield, Chef Craig and Ms Carmen. UK Yorùbá language classes Ṣola Otiti Staff and curators of the UK Museum African collections for supporting my research visits. The British Museum, The Horniman Museum, The Economic Botany Collection at Kew Gardens, The Pitt Rivers Museum, The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum Duncan Clarke from Adire African Textiles 1 Introduction Before the development of synthetic dyes in The literal translation of the word àdìrẹ is the mid-nineteenth century, dyes were to tie and to dye, a description of the extracted from natural sources such as original and oldest resist pattern making plants, animals and minerals (Areo and technique. Today the word is used in Kalilu, 2013). Indigo is one of the oldest Nigeria to describe all resist dyeing known plant dyes (Goodwin, 2003). It has techniques, including fabric dyed with been used as a dye for thousands of years synthetic dyes (Oyelọla, 2010). with each region of the world developing its own dyeing methods, beliefs, even religious This report focuses on indigo dyed resist ceremonies, as part of the process textiles. Resist dyeing involves using (Prideaux, 2007). techniques and materials to form patterns on fabric, which prevent the dye penetrating In Nigeria, there are over 250 ethnic groups the fabric. When the resist material is speaking as many indigenous languages. removed the pattern is revealed. The three most dominant are Hausa, in northern Nigeria, Yorùbá in the south-west Àdírẹ cloth incorporates intricate patterns and Igbo in south-eastern Nigeria (Findlay, and complex symbols which reflect 2018). All three have strong indigo dyeing indigenous Yorùbá society, providing a textile traditions but the activity is most valuable insight into Yoruba religion, dominant amongst the Yorùbá, who make culture, folklore and history. The patterns up approximately 21% of the population. are passed down through generations with The Yorùbás are “masters of the indigo- the cloth functioning as clothing and a dyeing process. They also have the most means of communication, especially for varied methods of applying resist to Yorùbá women, because originally àdìrẹ cloth” (Gillow 2001, p.70). textiles were made entirely by women. “The importance of àdìrẹ as a medium of Indigo dyeing amongst Yorùbá people falls communication and expression for women into two categories: the total-dyed cloth, aṣọ should not be understated” (Okundaye aláró, in which the whole fabric is immersed 2016, p.7). and dyed completely in indigo and àdìrẹ, which involves creating patterns on the Cloth is often neglected in art historical fabric through a variety of techniques studies, sometimes seen as a domestic craft before dyeing the cloth (Areo and Kalilu, rather than an art form (Renne and Agbaje- 2013). Àdírẹ was first produced on factory Williams, 2005). “The contributions of the milled cloth in the late nineteenth century African continent to the history of textile by people in Yorùbá towns, in particular, use and decoration have been Abẹ́òkuta, Ibadan and Òṣogbo in neglected” (Triplett and Triplett 2015, p.7) southwestern Nigeria (LaGamma, Giuntini, and when cloth history “is told it is rarely 2008). Prior to this, the patterns were made from an African perspective, let alone by an on locally made handwoven fabric called African voice" (Spring 2012, p.33). kijipa (Simmonds, Oyelọla and Ọkẹ, 2016, p. 11). 2 UK Collections A Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship, to incorporating newer techniques is largely southwestern Nigeria from February 2017 missing from the research (Gillow, 2016; until April 2017 to study àdìrẹ provided an Sandberg, 1989). The Yorùbá voice, opportunity to hear the African voice. especially the àdìrẹ maker's voice is also missing from the discourse, how the practice It was the voice of Nigerian artists, scholars, has evolved with new techniques and curators, the teachers and apprentices who patterns and how local circumstances and keep the tradition alive, the patrons who international challenges have impacted make a conscious decision to wear àdìrẹ and designs and production. the highly skilled Yorùbá àdìrẹ artisans who make the cloth. During one of my research visits, a group of textile enthusiasts enquired about the My travel Fellowship reflects my personal textiles. The collections staff member interest in indigenous indigo dyeing responded that I was researching cloths traditions and my own creative practice in from Africa. She looked to me to offer a natural indigo dyeing. further explanation and I added that they were textiles made in Nigeria within the The travel Fellowship research began in the continent of Africa. I briefly explained the UK with a visit to museums housing large stages in the complex process of resist àdìrẹ collections. These include the British dyeing and that the Yorùbá artisans use bird Museum, the Economic Botany collection at feathers as a quill to draw these detailed Kew Gardens, the Horniman Museum, the patterns on the cloth. I explained the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Royal Albert patterns reflect Yorùbá culture and Memorial Museum and the Victorian and proverbs. My efforts were in vain because Albert Museum. The collections comprise the group thanked me for my time in mainly unworn àdìrẹ pieces. One of the presenting the “primitive cloths”. That main collectors was Jane Barbour, an comment continues to bother me as does English woman whose husband’s teaching at the lack of diversity in museum collections the University of Ibadan took her to Nigeria staff. (the Guardian, 2017). Barbour began researching and collecting àdìrẹ cloth whilst The need for more diversity within museum living in Nigeria from 1962 until 1972. workforce is a long discussed topic but (Puccinelli. L 1997) without significant change. Men still dominate senior positions and the UK publications on African textiles that percentage of black and minority ethnic include àdìrẹ cloth are based on the UK staff and people with disabilities are lower museum collections but as the collections than in society. Curators, exhibition staff comprise mainly older textiles there is a and collections care specialists in museums limited analysis of contemporary àdìrẹ are much less diverse than those in other textiles. Barbour wrongly reported the roles (The Museum Consultancy, 2015). decline of àdìrẹ making (Simmonds, Oyelọla and Ọkẹ, 2016) but this position seems to be the one adopted by UK textile history publications as àdìrẹ cloth 3 During the research trip at Pitts River (University College London, 2018). The Museum, I noticed one of the Benin Yorùbá word for indigo dye is aro but it can Bronzes in a display cabinet. The Benin also mean furnace, sadness and a bean Bronzes were made by Edo artisans, the storehouse depending on where the tonal indigenous people of pre-colonial Benin marks are placed (Fakinlede, 2006). Empire, now located within Nigeria between the 15th and 16th centuries. They Yorùbá words in this report have been comprise several thousand commemorative written with tonal marks using the Yorùbá brass plaques and sculptures which were alphabet with the Yorùbá Modern Practical looted from the King’s palace by British Dictionary (Fakinlede, 2015) and forces during the Benin Expedition of 1897. Encyclopaedia of the Yoruba (Falola and They were subsequently given to the Foreign Akinyemi, 2016) as a guide with support and Commonwealth Office and many were from my Fellowship interpreter Mayowa sold to museums around the world. Today, Kila. There is still much work needed to there are calls for the bronzes to be returned ensure the words are written correctly and I to Nigeria (Ancient Origins. 2018). apologise for any unintentional errors. The display in Pitts River is problematic, so little said about the context of the pieces within Edo history and culture. Rather the interpretation seeks to justify the removal of the objects from the Benin Kingdom. It makes for an unpleasant visit. The largest collections of Benin Bronzes is held by the British Museum and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. The British Museum intends to host a summit along with other museums to discuss the return of pieces for a permanent display in Benin City, Nigeria.(Mtshali, 2018). Museums àdìrẹ collections provide some cloth names using Yorùbá words but the English meanings and Yorùbá tonal marks are sometimes missing and this makes pronunciation and interpretation difficult. Tone is important in Yorùbá language. Consonants and vowels have very different meanings determined by the midrange, low or high tone (Everyculture.com, 2018). Pitch is indicated by the tone marks. Some words have similar spellings but with tonal marks, they can have very different meanings. 4 Lagos In Nigeria Lagos was my first stop, a meeting with Chief (Mrs) Nike Davies- Okundaye, one of the most prominent àdìrẹ practitioners.