This 'adire eleko' cloth, decorated with the 'Olokun' design, was produced by a female Yoruba indigo-dyer during the 1950s or 1960s. The 'Olokun' design is named for the Goddess of the sea and wealth and is still amongst the most popular of all adire cloth designs. The Yoruba people view Olokun as female, while in other regions of West Africa, Olokun is either male and female, depending on the region.

Cloths like this were worn by either men or women, wrapped around the body and secured by twisting the ends of the cloth together. This is still the most common method of wearing adire cloths today. Since 1960 however, when Nigeria gained independence, the popularity of adire cloth has increased enormously. It is now also used for European-style clothing and head-ties, while special cloths are made for religious celebrations. This particular example may have been created for personal use or to sell at the market.

'Adire' refers to a cloth that has been patterned by the technique of resist dyeing with indigo. Yoruba women extract dye from the 'elu' (lonchocarpus cyanescens) vine. After collecting the vine leaves, the women pound them into a pulp, and form fist-sized balls. The process of dyeing that follows is lengthy, but essentially involves extracting the dye stuff from the 'elu' leaves as described, mixing them with a mordant (metallic salt dye fixative) extracted from ash, and then dyeing the cloth. The technique is taught to their daughters from a very young age by Yoruba mothers. During the dyeing, the women regularly make offerings to the Goddess Iya Mapo, who assists them throughout the process.

'Eleko' refers to the resist dye technique that involves the application of cassava paste to the surface of imported cotton cloth. The paste is made from cassava flour (or lafun) which is boiled with alum to form a thick starch. The design is hand painted, the paste being applied to the cloth wiith either a brush or a feather quill. During dyeing, the areas covered with dried starch paste resist the absorption of the indigo dye. When dyeing is complete, generally requiring several dips in the dye vat, the starch is scraped off leaving the cloth slightly stiff. The dry cloth is then placed over a flat log, and beaten with a wooden mallet which produces a high sheen on the cloth from the large amounts of indigo dye used. The introduction of the starch paste technique enabled the production of cloths with much more detail. 'Adire eleko' cloths, particularly cloths like this example which is more finely detailed than stencilled cloths, are quite sought after as they now rarely appear on the market.

The cloth is part of a collection of West African textiles, spindles, hand spun yarn and a thorn carving collected in West Africa by Dr C Marion Petrie. Dr Petrie was an employee of the British Colonial Service in Nigeria and Ghana between 1957 and 1966.

Yoruba indigo-dyed 'adire eleko' cloth in the 'Olokun' design. 'Adire' refers to a cloth that has been patterned by the technique of resist dyeing with indigo. Yoruba women extract dye from the 'elu' (lonchocarpus cyanescens) vine. After collecting the vine leaves, the women pounded the them into a pulp, and formed a fist-sized balls. The process of dyeing that followed was lengthy, but essentially involved extracting the dye stuff from the 'elu' leaves in this way, mixing it with a mordant (metallic salt dye fixative) extracted from ash, and then dyeing the cloth. This process was taught to their daughters from a very young age by Yoruba mothers. During the dyeing, women regularly made offerings to the Goddess Iya Mapo, who assisted them throughout the process.

The 'adire eleko' patterns were achieved by applying cassava paste to the surface of imported cotton cloth. The paste was made from cassava flour (or lafun), which was boiled with alum to form a thick starch. As the design is hand painted, the paste would have then been applied to the cloth with either a brush or a feather quill. During the dyeing process, the areas covered with the now dried starch prevented the absorption of the indigo dye. After the dyeing process was completed, generally requiring several dips in the dye vat, the starch was scraped off leaving the cloth slightly stiff. After the cloth was dried, it was placed over a flat log, and beaten with a wooden mallet which produced a high sheen on the cloth from the large amounts of indigo dye used.

Olokun, who gives her name to the design of this cloth, is the Goddess of the sea and wealth and the name may be translated as 'life is sweet'. The Yoruba people view Olokun as female, while in other regions of West Africa, Olokun is either male and female, depending on the region. The cloth consists of two lengths of fabric sewn together; each piece is patterned with ten large squares (two by five) containing geometric designs of plants, animals and everyday objects. The outer edges of the cloth have six small rectangles on each side, with six longer rectangles on each end along the width of the cloth. This cloth also has the letters 'OK' printed on it, indicating that it is not the finest adire eleko available, although still of high quality. Like all 'Olokun' cloths, it features regualry used pattern motifs, including the four legged stool.

This 'adire eleko' cloth in the 'Olokun' (Goddess of the sea) design was produced in Yoruba by a female indigo-dyer during the 1950s or 1960s. Cloths like this were worn by either men or women, wrapped around the body and secured by twisting the ends of the cloth together. This is still the most common method of wearing adire cloths today. Since 1960 however, when Nigeria gained independence, the popularity of adire cloth has increased enormously. It is now also used for European style clothing and head-ties, while special cloths are made for religious celebrations. This particular example may have been created for personal use or to sell at the market.

The cloth is part of a collection of 33 objects, consisting of West African textiles, spindles, hand spun yarn and a thorn carving, which were collected in West Africa between 1957 and 1966 by Dr C Marion Petrie. Dr Petrie was employed by the British Colonial Service in government and university posts in various towns in Nigeria and Ghana. She collected textiles and other items for her own enjoyment in markets and from traders and subsequently donated them to the National Textile Museum in Adelaide. When the National Textile Museum closed in 1999, this collection was transferred to the Powerhouse Museum.

Wrapper (adire eleko), 'Olokun' design, cotton, hand-painted starch resist and indigo-dyed by Yoruba woman, Western Nigeria, 1950-1966

A rectangular indigo-dyed 'adire eleko' cloth in the 'Olokun' (Goddess of the sea) design. It is composed of two lengths of similarly patterned fabric, sewn together to create one large cloth. The white on blue design on each length features ten large squares (two by five) with a border of smaller rectangular forms around three sides. These smaller units form a complete border when the two lengths are stitched together. Each square or rectangle is patterned within, the motifs including diagonal stripes, squares, rectangles, flowers, and the letters 'OK'.

Made: 1950 - 1966

2008/59/21

1950 - 1966