Cloth, Dress and Art Patronage in Africa

Perani, Judith; Wolff, Norma H.

doi:10.2752/9781847888662

Cited by 37 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Okeke (1980) opined that Aniocha people use their Akwa-Ocha for most of their ceremonies believing that it inspires certain mystic essence in ceremonies and rituals. The use of Akwa-Ocha beyond their ordinary function of clothing the wearer exemplifies Perani and Wolff (1999) view that Africans use cloth to dress and to do things important to them. However, since AkwaOcha is readily available in wrapper form, at every occasion or ceremony it is put to use, the men combine the cloth which they tie around the waist region with a singlet or Copyright © International Association of African Researchers andReviewers, 2006-2017: www.afrrevjo.net/ijah Indexed African Journals Online (AJOL) www.ajol.info T-shirt (Plate 1).…”

Section: Akwa-ocha Hand-woven Clothmentioning

confidence: 88%

Utilizing Indigenous Elements on Akwa-Ocha for Modern Fabric Design and Garments

Onwuakpa¹

2017

AFRREV IJAH: Int J. Art and Humanities

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Akwa-Ocha, which literally means white cloth, is a popular hand-woven cloth among the Enuani people, who are also referred to as Aniocha people in present day Delta State in South-south geographical zone of Nigeria. The cloth is designed and woven for all-purposes but can also be customized to suit particular occasions or client of high social status. Akwa-Ocha is embellished with motifs and symbols reflective of the people's religious as well as social beliefs. These motifs range from mundane to the spiritual and incorporate plants, animals, man-made objects, geometric shapes, as well as cosmological symbols. Beyond their ordinary function of clothing the wearers, Akwa-Ocha woven cloths assume other important and symbolic roles, such as social and other ritual significance. How did this cloth gain such significance among the Aniocha people? Does such importance offer any interpretation of the changing social political landscape in modern Nigeria? In what ways have Akwa-Ocha responded to global fashion consciousness? As a treasured item, Akwa-Ocha is among the most important two-dimensional art forms in Nigeria. It is the intention of this paper to address some of the further developments with its motifs and symbols. This paper will argue that globalization has created other responsibilities for even further broadening the utility value of the motifs and symbols inherent on the cloth, and also making it accessible to a wider range of users.

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Section: Akwa-ocha Hand-woven Clothmentioning

confidence: 88%

Utilizing Indigenous Elements on Akwa-Ocha for Modern Fabric Design and Garments

Onwuakpa¹

2017

AFRREV IJAH: Int J. Art and Humanities

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“…6.See Picton (1995); Renne (1995, 2013); Perani and Wolff (1999), Rabine (2002); Allman (2004); Gott (2010); Gott and Loughran (2010); Rovine (2010b); Jennings (2011); Hanson and Madison (2013); and Sylvanus (2013).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Games of Seduction and Games of History: Alioum Moussa’sFashion Victimsin Niamey, Niger

Gilvin¹

2015

Afr. stud. rev.

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Abstract:In his November 2011 solo art exhibition, Fashion Victims, held in Niamey, Niger, the Cameroonian artist Alioum Moussa launched a critique of global participation in the industrial fashion system by employing secondhand garments as his primary medium. The show had special resonance in a city attempting to cultivate both industrial and artisanal production of dress and fashion for global markets. Moussa demanded that viewers reckon with their own consumerist dress practices and potential fashion victimization in what he described as “global games of seduction,” and he offered tributes to the different “fashion victims” by inviting others to play in shared games of history.

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“…A well-known feature of Ghanaian consumer culture both in Ghana and the diaspora is the importance attributed to dress in the performance of status and subjectivity (see Fumanti 2009; Manuh 1998; Perani and Wolff 1999; Preston 1990; Ross 1998). As Gott (2007, 2009) underlines in her analysis of fashion and wealth in Asante, this is a highly gendered discourse: Fashion, with its changeability and aesthetic appeal, has become an important component in women's display of African-print cloth.…”

Section: Distinction and ‘Bling’ Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

‘A Light-Hearted Bunch of Ladies’: Gendered Power and Irreverent Piety in the Ghanaian Methodist Diaspora

Fumanti¹

2010

Africa

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This article explores the making of gendered and religious identities among a group of Ghanaian Methodist women in London by bringing to the fore the complex and irreverent ways in which the women of Susanna Wesley Mission Auxiliary (SUWMA) negotiate their recognition within the predominantly patriarchal settings of the Methodist Church. If, on the one hand, the association and its members conform to Christian values and widely accepted Ghanaian constructions of womanhood, on the other hand, flouting expectations of pious femininity, they claim a unique, elevated position within the church. Their transgressive hedonism can thus be read as a performative assertion of their claims to respect, recognition and leadership beyond the narrow parameters of gendered modesty. Many of the women are senior church leaders and respected members of the diaspora. All are successful professional career women and economically independent. Their association is simultaneously about promoting the Christian faith while being recognized as successful, cosmopolitan, glamorous middle-class women. It is this duality which the present article highlights by showing how members of the association negotiate and construct their subjectivities both within the Methodist Church and the Ghanaian diaspora, while they also negotiate their relationship with the Methodist Church in Ghana.

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Cloth, Dress and Art Patronage in Africa

Cited by 37 publications

References 0 publications

Utilizing Indigenous Elements on Akwa-Ocha for Modern Fabric Design and Garments

Utilizing Indigenous Elements on Akwa-Ocha for Modern Fabric Design and Garments

Games of Seduction and Games of History: Alioum Moussa’sFashion Victimsin Niamey, Niger

‘A Light-Hearted Bunch of Ladies’: Gendered Power and Irreverent Piety in the Ghanaian Methodist Diaspora

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