Untitled (àdìrẹ eleko) (2025 Work-In-Progress)
My approach to adire (a Nigerian tie-dye technique with indigo) focuses on the cassava starch that is used to create the patterns and (in my case) images, which gives me the opportunity to develop what I’m calling “reverse adire” - a technique whereby I add natural pigments - from indigo to nutmeg - to the cassava so as to keep it on the cotton cloth rather than wash it off as is custom. The cassava acts as a counter-archive of the Columbian exchange - with the Indigenous knowledge that traveled alongside the crop foregrounded - while the engagement with the gendered story-telling tradition of adire speaks to gendered experiences of colonization in Nigeria.
Key words: counter-archive; racial capitalism; gendered knowledge-transmission
The artist would like to acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.