Nike Davies-Okundaye

From Justapedia, unleashing the power of collective wisdom
(Redirected from Nike Davies Okundaye)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Nike Okundaye
Chief Nike Davies Okundaye.jpg
Chief Nike Okundaye, June 2019
Born(1951-05-23)23 May 1951
Ogidi, Kogi State, Nigeria
NationalityNigerian
Known forTextile artist
SpouseTwins Seven Seven (divorced)
Websitewww.nikeartfoundation.com

Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye (born 1951), also known as Nike Okundaye, Nike Twins Seven Seven and Nike Olaniyi, is a Nigerian batik and Adire textile designer.

Early life

Nike Okundaye was born in 1951 in Ogidi, Kogi State, in North-Central Nigeria,[1] and was brought up amidst the traditional weaving and dyeing as practiced in her home town. Her parents and great grandmother were musicians and craftspeople, who specialized in the areas of cloth weaving, adire making, indigo dyeing and leather.[2] Nike Davies-Okundaye is a well-reputed artist best known for her cloth work and embroidery pieces.[3] She learned how to use the loom to produce cloth during the time she lived with her great grandmother Ibitola (“Red Woman”).[4] She spent part of her early life in Osogbo, Western Nigeria, modern-day Osun State. Osogbo is also recognized as a major center for art and culture in Nigeria.[5] Growing up in Osogbo, young Nike was exposed to indigo dyeing and Adire production which dominated her informal training.[6]

Career

Over the past twenty years, she has given workshops on traditional Nigerian textiles to audiences in the United States and Europe. She had her first solo exhibition at the Goethe Institute, Lagos in 1968.[2] She is the founder and director of four art centers that offer free training to over 150 young artists in visual, musical and performing arts, comprising more than 7,000 artworks.[2]

Finding that the traditional methods of weaving and dyeing that had been her original inspiration were fading in Nigeria, Davies-Okundaye set about launching a revival of this aspect of Nigerian culture, building art centers offering free courses for young Nigerians to learn traditional arts and crafts. As art historian John Peffer states, “One thing shared by many of the latest generation of African artists in the diaspora - those who have been successful on the art circuit - is that their work critiques the very burden of representation that is also the condition of their visibility.”[7] In her eyes the traditional art of Adire Eleko is only possible 

because of a specific Nigerian heritage of passing knowledge from one generation to the next. In a video interview published by Nubia Africa, Okundaye states that "school can only teach what they [art students] already know."[8] According to a CNBC Africa interview, she trained more than 3000 young Nigerians for free and she continues to help by funding many poor to establish their small businesses and art workshops in different parts of Nigeria.[citation needed]

Davies-Okundaye adire and batik textiles use visual themes taken from Yourba history and mythology. As well as, visual themes inspired by her own life experiences and dreams.[9] According to Vaz, folklore often inner mingles with personal experiences to express disheartening subjects regarding female suffering. Folklores that Davies-Okundaye was exposed to through evening stories spoken by the village elder, addressing social issues centered around the female suffrage. In which, David-Okundaye uses folklore figures to express her concerts on the female suffering through her batiks that portraying the Goddess Osun (ie. “Mother of Africa”) communicating on ideologies and social norms placed females in constrained positions.[4]

Adire textile staining.
Adire Eleko example.

Davies-Okundaye strives to improve lives of disadvantaged women in Nigeria through art. She teaches the unique techniques of indigo cloth-dyeing (Adire) to rural women at her workshop in south-west Nigeria. She hopes to revive the centuries-old tradition and the lives of these women.[10] Adire - that which is tied and dyed - is native to the Southwest region of Nigeria. The freehand dyeing is sometimes known as Adire Eleko. "Adire" refers to indigo dye, and 'Eleko' refers to the boiled cassava, lime, and alum resist technique used to create patterns.[11] There is a strong tendency to keep dyeing recipes and methods secret from inquisitive outsiders.[12] Davies-Okundaye chooses to continuously reference Adire patterns in her artwork because Adire is a women's art, and was taught to her by her mother. Adire pattern motifs were traditionally handed down from mother to daughter, and the designs themselves virtually have not changed in form over time.[13]

Davies-Okundaye was featured on CNN International's "African Voices" which tells about Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring their lives and passions.[14] Moreover, Nike's painting is permanently featured at The Smithsonian Museum as of 2012, and her work is also part of the collection of the Gallery of African Art and The British Library, in London and at Johfrim Art and Design Studio.[15] She holds the chieftaincy titles of the Yeye Oba of Ogidi-Ijumu and the Yeye Tasase of Oshogbo.

Nike Okundaye was included in the 2019 show I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art in Washington, D C.[16]

Personal life

She was once married to fellow Nigerian artist Twins Seven Seven, but that marriage ended in divorce. Her son Olabayo Olaniyi, College of Santa Fe graduate, is also an artist. Davies-Okundaye has more than 150 students in Europe and America. She is also a philanthropist.

Published sources

A book about Nike was written by Kim Marie Vaz, The Woman with the Artistic Brush: A Life History of Yoruba Batik Artist Nike Okundaye.[17]

Honours

Nike Davies-Okundaye is the recipient of honors from numerous esteemed cultural institutions. She has served on the UNESCO Committee of the Intangible Nigerian Heritage Project. She has been honored as the CEPAN Foundation Art Icon of the year. Davies-Okundye has given workshops and lectures at universities world over. [18][19][20]

[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ Picton, John (2008). "Nike Okundaye". In Gumpert, Lynn (ed.). The poetics of cloth : African textiles, recent art. New York: Grey Art Gallery, New York University. p. 68. ISBN 9780615220833.
  2. ^ a b c "Nike Davies-Okundaye & Tola Wewe". Gallery of African Art. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  3. ^ Ottenberg, Simon (2006-04-01). "African Art and Culture in Maine". African Arts. 39 (1): 1–96. doi:10.1162/afar.2006.39.1.1. ISSN 0001-9933.
  4. ^ a b Vaz, Kim (1995). Black Women in America. doi:10.4135/9781483326962. ISBN 9780803954557.
  5. ^ PETER PROBST (2012). "Osogbo and the Art of Heritage". {{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)
  6. ^ "Nike Davies-Okundaye". Gallery of African Art. n.d. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  7. ^ Peffer, John (2003). "The Diaspora as Object," in Art of the Contemporary African Diaspora. New York, NY: Museum for African Art. p. 32.
  8. ^ INDLU with Nike “Davies” Okundaye on YouTube
  9. ^ Aronson, Lisa; LaDuke, Betty (January 1993). "Africa through the Eyes of Women Artists". African Arts. 26 (1): 99. doi:10.2307/3337123. ISSN 0001-9933. JSTOR 3337123.
  10. ^ Ndeche, Chidirim (12 August 2017). "Nike Davies-Okundaye: Expressing Nigeria Through Art". TheGuardian. Lagos, Nigeria. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  11. ^ Carr, Ritka; Davies-Okundaye, Nike (2001). Beyond Indigo: Adire Eleko Squares, Patters & Meanings. Lagos, Nigeria: Sabo-Yaba.
  12. ^ Vaz, Kim Marie (1995). The Women with the Artistic Brush. M. E. Sharpe. p. 84.
  13. ^ Gillow, John (2001). Printed and Dyed Textiles from Africa. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 16–17.
  14. ^ Purefoy, Christian (12 April 2011). "Nigeria's 'Mama Nike' empowers women through art". CNN. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  15. ^ "UK building relationship with Africa through art". vanguardngr.com. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
  16. ^ "Opening events I Am . . . Contemporary Women Artists of Africa". Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  17. ^ Bourgatti, Jean M.; Vaz, Kim Marie (1997). "The Woman with the Artistic Brush". International Journal of African Historical Studies. 30 (1): 216–218. doi:10.2307/221593. JSTOR 221593. Reviews the book The Woman with the Artistic Brush: A Life History of Yoruba Batik Artist Nike Okundaye, by Kim Marie Vaz.
  18. ^ "Nike Davies-Okundaye - BIOGRAPHY|Adire". leurr. 2020-12-22. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  19. ^ "Chief Oyenike Monica Davies-Okundaye – DAWN Commission". Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  20. ^ www.artnet.com http://www.artnet.com/artists/nike-davies-okundaye/biography. Retrieved 2022-09-27. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. ^ "Nike Centre for Art and Culture". www.africancraft.com. Retrieved 2022-09-27.

FProject. eading

External links

Retrieved from "https://justapedia.org/index.php?title=Nike_Davies-Okundaye&oldid=1112706407"