Through this body of work, Nnebe adapts the traditional process of tie-dye (adire in Yoruba) in order to develop what she calls “tie-dye” or “adire photographs”.
A first iteration of the project features archival images from the 1929 Aba and 1947 Abeokuta Women's Wars that highlight how dress—specifically the wrapper—became a uniform and marker of protest, cutting across class and ethnic differences.
Through performance, Nnebe also turns the process of indigo dyeing into a methodology for making visible the sediments of colonial history we've been taught to forget.
The artist would like to acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.