Adire Eleko

This adire eleko was made in circa 1960 in Nigeria out of cotton.

Yoruba artists make adire eleko textiles by applying a resist-paste of cassava flour to the cloth with a sharpened quill. The design is drawn on one side only and then the cloth gets dip-dyed in an indigo bath numerous times to achieve the deep blue black so prized by the Yoruba. In between dippings the cloth is laid out carefully on racks to dry without cracking the cassava paste, thus achieving straight edges on the designs. The pasted areas absorb some indigo, but not as much, creating the blue-on blue design seen here.

The design is drawn in a square grid and the motifs, such as birds, lizards, elephants and plants, have a proverbial meaning. The adire cloths are dated to either before the nineteen thirties or to the sixties and seventies, both periods of relative calm and prosperity in Nigeria.