- Textile
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Textile
- Place of origin:
Africa (Probably Nigeria, made)
- Date:
1960-1967 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown
- Materials and Techniques:
The cotton cloth has been tied with raffia and dyed. In some places the tying is intact.
- Museum number:
CIRC.569-1967
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Adire means to tie and dye in Yoruba and the pattern on the cloth has been made by tying sections of the cloth tightly with raffia so they do not absorb the indigo when the cloth is submerged in the dye vat. Indigo dyeing was done by women using large earthenware dye pots partially sunk into the ground. The small circles were created by tying small stones or seeds into the cloths while the larger cloths are made by raising a point of cloth and then binding the cloth below tightly, leaving a larger round area of white. In this example it is possible to see a large circle that has not been bound tightly enough and is therefore pale blue rather than white.
Adire cloths were worn as wraparound skirts. They were not particularly prestigious but during the 1960s they were extremely popular. Part of their success lay in the fact that they were inexpensive and could be made quickly in response to changing fashions.
