Textile artist Nike Davies-Okundaye worked as a construction laborer and carried water and firewood to survive. The art of adire gave her global fame and she is now educating generations of women in Nigeria.



There was no way Nike Davies-Okundaye could look the other way. For after all, she too had been a victim in her early teens.&nbsp;



Too many women were being pushed down the traditional path of marriage and child-rearing in her country.



Born in 1951 in Ogidi-Ijumu, a small village in western Nigeria known for its spectacular rock formations and traditional art industry, Davies-Okundaye resolved to fight this practice four decades ago.



“By the age of 13, they wanted to marry me off because my father had no money. I had to run away from home and join a traveling theater. I said I didn’t want to marry and wanted to pursue art,” recalls the internationally-renowned Lagos-based artist.



Not wanting to become one of six wives to a minister, Davies-Okundaye found her escape through adire, the name given to the Yoruba craft of tie-and-dye where indigo-dyed cloth is made using a variety of resist-dyeing techniques. Growing up in a predominantly art and craft household, Davies-Okundaye is a fifth-generation artist who decided to take the craft seriously due to poverty.



“I had no money to go to school and the first education parents give you is to teach you what they do. So, when I finished primary six and I had no support to go to secondary school, I said to myself, ‘let me master art so I can teach other women to also use their hand to make a living through their own artwork’.”



Davies-Okundaye was forced to work in the male-dominated construction sector, carrying concrete in pans to builders in order to save one shilling, just enough to buy a yard of fabric to create what she called wall-hanging art.



Her goal was to use the traditional wax-resist methods to design patterned fabric in a dazzling array of tints and hues. The adire design is the result of hand-painted work carried out mostly by women and through that, Davies-Okundaye saw a way to help women to become economically empowered. After all, her first break in life came as a result of that.



“There was no other job I was doing apart from adire. I was lucky the American government came to Nigeria to recruit an African who will teach African Americans how to make traditional textiles or crafts in the state. That is how I was lucky and got picked.”



Davies-Okundaye was the only woman in a class of 10 men who were flown to Maine in northeastern United States in 1974. That is where her whole outlook on life changed.



“Before I went to America, I used to carry three drums of water every day and carry firewood to be able to survive. It was like a breakthrough in my life when I reached America. I said ‘is this heaven?’ I was the only woman in the class and all the men were learning women’s looms and I kept telling them ‘this is for women’ and they said ‘yes, in America, what a man can do, a woman can also do’.”



This was in stark contrast to what she knew to be true in Nigeria at the time.



“If your husband is an artist, you are not allowed to do art. In the 1960s, if your husband has a PhD, you are not allowed to also have a PhD. You had to give room for your husband to be your boss.”



She decided to beat those age-old stereotypes.



As one of 15 wives to her then-husband at the time, Davies-Okundaye, with her newfound knowledge gained in America, started a revolution at home. She encouraged the other wives to create their own art business using adire.



“I said ‘if you learn this, you can earn a living by yourself and get your power because your money is your power’ and that is how they also started learning it. I didn’t stop sharing the knowledge there. I gathered girls on the streets who were selling kola nuts and peanuts and started training them. I said ‘if this textile can take me to America, let me teach other people’,” says Davies-Okundaye.



And that has been her calling ever since. Davies-Okundaye is the founder and director of four art centers, which offer free training to 150 young artists in Nigeria in visual, musical and performing arts.



One of the centers is the largest art gallery in West Africa comprising over 7,000 art works.



“They used to get the police to arrest me because they said I was trying to teach feminism in Nigeria because I went to America. They said I was going to corrupt our Nigerian women but I believe God sent me to liberate a lot of women who have the passion for what makes them happy but are afraid to do it because of what people will say. I say do what makes you happy always!”

Nike Davies

The Art Of Survival: The Art Of Adire Gave This Textile Artist Global Fame, She Now Educates Generations Of Women In Nigeria

Veteran Nigerian artist Nike Davies-Okundaye has made her name innovating the art of her heritage and giving other women hope by paying it forward.



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The best learning process of any kind of craft is just to look at the work of others,” says Nobel prize-winning Nigerian novelist Wole Soyinka on pursuing a life in the arts.



This observation is perhaps most true when applied to the
life and work of fellow citizen and internationally-renowned batik artist,
Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye. 



Born in 1951 in Ogidi-Ijumu, a small village in western
Nigeria known for its spectacular rock formations and traditional art industry,
Davies-Okundaye has reached the pinnacle of her career thanks to an enduring
dedication to preserve and innovate the culture of her people.&nbsp; 



The daughter of impoverished traditional artisans, she did
not, like many artists of her stature, receive any formal education in art or
preparatory schooling. The poverty of her childhood led her to leave school
after the sixth grade. Instead, she was trained informally in the traditional
crafts of her people through methods practised by women in her family for
generations.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="411" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike.png" alt="" class="wp-image-38525" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike.png 411w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike-300x450.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike-200x300.png 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 411px) 100vw, 411px" /><figcaption>Veteran Nigerian artist Nike Davies-Okundaye. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></div>



Yet, over a career spanning five decades, Davies-Okundaye
has gone on to educate generations of artists, at no cost to them, through a
network of art centers across Nigeria. A far cry from the girl shaped by
tragedy very early in life. 



“I lost my mother when I was six and I lost my grandmother
when I was seven. The knowledge was passed on to me by my great-grandmother who
was the head of all the weavers in our village,” she recounts.



Following the death of both her mother and grandmother, she
was taken in by her great grandmother, an established adire, a specialist in
the traditional art of fabric dyeing of southwest Nigeria. From her,
Davies-Okundaye learned to weave fabric on traditional looms beginning the
family’s fifth generation in the craft.&nbsp; 



Her father, too, was a practitioner of the traditional arts.
An accomplished basket weaver, he also practised embroidery and leather work
and was a known musician in the community. 



In Ogidi, parents passed on their skills to their children
in a form of vocational training concentrated within the household.
Davies-Okundaye started as early as seven.



“Once in a week, they taught me crafts. This craft they [taught] is for [us] to be able know how to do handwork&#8230; so that’s how I was learning.” she recalls. 



An adept student, drawing from her family’s many artisanal
specializations, she quickly developed her own style and technique in textile
weaving and painting. 



Unfortunately, the young woman wasn’t allowed to nurture her
talents for long. Her family made the controversial decision to marry her off
when she was just 14 years old, an event that would impact the course of her
life very powerfully.



“They married me to a minister who already had four wives!
This is why I ran away from home and joined a traveling theater,” she says.



It was the traveling theater that took her to Osogbo, the
Nigerian town where she first established herself as an adire in her own right.
Historically, it was the source of beautiful handmade indigo textiles and, in
the 1960s, it became a nucleus of contemporary African art in the country.&nbsp; 



Indigo to the Yoruba people is the color of love. The
process of adire-making is therefore a labor of love. It involves extracting
indigo from the indigenous elu plant using labor-intensive techniques followed
by painting and resist-dyeing the fabric with a homemade cassava emulsion. 



As she became better versed in adire, Davies-Okundaye
decided to sell her work in what would be her very first gallery, out of her
bedroom, in 1968. This was her entry into a formal career in art.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="501" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike4-1024x501.png" alt="" class="wp-image-38526" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike4-1024x501.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike4-300x147.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike4-600x293.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike4-768x375.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike4.png 1262w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Batik art by Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure>



‘I called it African Art Number One Shop and I noticed that
it was only expatriates that would come to my shop and buy the pieces,” she
says.



During this time, she matured as an artist, experimenting
with fabric design and painting as well as teaching herself a new language,
English, to communicate with her foreign buyers. 



One of them was Alan Donovan, the acclaimed American
gallerist and collector of African artifacts. Arriving on the continent in 1967
as an aid worker during the Biafra War, Donovan took every opportunity to
travel around West Africa discovering the art and culture of the region.



When he stumbled upon Osogbo, it was inevitable that he
would end up at the door of the African Art Number One. Now living in Kenya,
Donovan became a repeat customer. He would return time and again, encouraging
her to make more work, which he would take to Nairobi. 



Her work would be distributed to discerning collectors like
Donovan. Among them was Joseph Murumbi, Kenya’s first Vice-President and one of
Africa’s most recognized private art collectors. From that one-room gallery,
Davies-Okundaye reportedly sent over 100 pieces of her work and that of other
Osogbo artists to Nairobi.&nbsp; 



In 1972, Donovan organized the Nigerian Festival, part of a
pan-African trade fair, in Nairobi. This was officially Davies-Okundaye’s
international debut at the gallery of the African Heritage House, founded by
Donovan and Murumbi’s wife, Sheila, the same year. The partnership continued
for decades, returning Nike numerously to Nairobi for East African exhibitions
of her Adire.



Interest in Kenya led to her first international tour,
taking her to the United States at the invitation of the American government,
along with 10 other established artists from across the continent. The
experience, she insists, was a catalyst for the founding of her art centers and
business in Nigeria.



“We were privileged to be the first artists from Africa to
travel to America in 1974. They asked us to bring something back that would
benefit our people. They took us to galleries and museums and they allowed us
to see their craft,” she remembers.



What she brought back was an even greater passion and
understanding of art, one that has led to philanthropy via her eponymous art
centers. The first opened in 1983, where she worked with disenfranchised women
on the streets of Osogbo. There, much like her own informal education, she
shared with them her skills in adire, weaving, painting and other traditional
arts for free. The centers have since grown to three in other Nigerian cities:
Abuja, Lagos and her hometown, Ogidi.



The Lagos center also houses Davies-Okundaye’s monumental
art gallery, said to be the largest in West Africa with over 8,000 pieces from
artists across Nigeria. The gallery, which opened in 1996, was a direct influence
of her American tour in the 1970s.



“The gallery that had in Osogbo was nothing compared to what
I saw [in the US] and I [wanted] to build a gallery where everyone’s voice
would be heard,” she says.



True to form, the gallery has achieved all that and more.
She has been responsible for discovering new talent in the country and actively
takes on an up-and-coming artist every month, building her collection and
diversity of voices piece by piece. 



Any one of these young artists may look at her career and
wonder where her secret to success lies. She is honest about the obstacles in
an industry that in many parts of the continent remains largely unrecognized.



“I always know my work. So whatever you do, you need to do
it very well and I tell people don’t rush, you will get there at the end of the
day. Have peace in your heart,” is her advice.



However, the patience that has carried her through has been
fueled by careful financial planning. As an entrepreneur, Davies-Okundaye has
endured because of this. She reinvests at least two-thirds of her income in her
business and art centers. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="402" height="612" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike5.png" alt="" class="wp-image-38527" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike5.png 402w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike5-300x457.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Nike5-197x300.png 197w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 402px) 100vw, 402px" /><figcaption> Batik art by Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye. Picture: Supplied </figcaption></figure></div>



“Always plan ahead because if you make money today, you may
not make any for several months. I keep working. Even if I can’t sell any
pieces, I’ll find other work to pay for the materials,” she says.



This earnest combination of hard work, frugality and
philanthropy has made Davies-Okundaye a veteran artist of not only Nigeria but
of Africa. She has had pieces on permanent display at the Smithsonian
Institution’s National Museum of African Art in Washington DC for the past six
years.



The Gallery of African Art in London held a month and a half
retrospective of her work in 2014. Next year, she will return to the
Smithsonian for a celebration of her 50-year-career. Her work is cherished in
private collections all over with world. 



That doesn’t stop her from adding to her repertoire. Aside
from adire and textile painting, she recently began working with beads,
producing intricate portraits depicting life across Nigeria, completing a
single piece over the course of a year.



Even at 67, Davies-Okundaye has no plans to retire. 



“I still make time for my own work&#8230; and I still manage to cook for my husband,” she laughs.



-Marie Shabaya

nike1

The material of life according to textile queen Nike Davies-Okundaye

A swift 30 minutes’ drive from Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos leads you to Lekki suburbs, home to the Nike Art Centre, a busy double-story building that keeps some of the best and most treasured contemporary artwork in Nigeria.
The white halls, decorated with castings of Yoruba art patterns, mimicking the unique techniques of indigo cloth dyeing, also known as Adire, display some of the 7,000 odd artistic works in this gallery.
The award-winning Nike Davies-Okundaye and her husband worked hard over decades to build a business enterprise that spans the whole of Nigeria.
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Mama Nike, as she is popularly known, needs no introduction. She is one of Nigeria’s best known art entrepreneurs. Her life story rivals the drama and intrigue of classic novelist Charles Dickens’ characters—deprived orphans prodding through life against the back-drop of an ugly world, but eventually making a success of themselves at the end.
Okundaye lost her mother and grandmother at a young age. Still her misfortunes, that virtually rendered her an orphan, didn’t rein in her urge to work hard. Even with hard work her business struggled for many years to take off owing to a lack of interest in the arts by many people. Numerous other factors, including politics, contributed to her challenges. At one stage tension between the government and artists ran so high that it stifled creativity in the country. But as luck would have it, Mama Nike met her current husband who was then a senior police administrator. His influence led to the antagonism easing out and artists provided new platforms and opportunities for expression.
Okundaye started her business in 1968 as a textile artist in Kogi. At that point she used her bedroom as a gallery. She eventually moved to Oshogbo, the headquarters of her business empire today. Since then, her business has expanded and has branches in Ogidi, the capital Abuja and Lagos. The Lagos art gallery, completed in 2009, is where she generates most of the revenue that supports the operating costs of her other business centers.
“In Nigeria, only oil is discovered but good artists aren’t. My aim is to discover artists and to showcase their beautiful work in our country and in Africa as a whole” says Mama Nike.
Her art centres reveal prospect for the economic benefits that can be reaped through art in a country that offers limited opportunities for artists. They conduct workshops where art students learn the practical aspects of indigo cloth dyeing. The students are all women from surrounding poor, rural communities.
Although it costs a premium to teach, house and feed each one, the women do not pay a penny. Okundaye covers their expenses. Mama Nike also supports these women by selling their artwork on their behalf at her gallery in Lagos.
The Lagos Art Gallery caters for both first-time and seasoned art collectors with artwork prices ranging from $62 to $ 38,000.
In this gallery, some of the most sought-after artworks by well-known contemporary Nigerian artists fill the walls. The displays of painter Rom Isichei, well known for high textured surface of oil or acrylic and outstanding skill in the use of colors, take up a whole wall. The adjacent wall showcases Kunle  Adegborioye’s latest works, which capture the essence of the current political and socio-economic issues in Nigeria. The displays provide an artistic vision that depicts real life and mythical stories of hope and despair.
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The gallery has made 60-year-old Okundaye’s business one of the most promising art enterprises in Nigeria. The sizable tourism industry has benefited her business in many ways. Over the years, tourists, excluding the international art collectors, have been the main consumers of her artwork. To cater for this demand, Okundaye has created a tourist paradise in each of the other three centers, namely Oshogbo, Abuja and Ogidi. The centers offer three services: guided tours, inexpensive lodges and arts exhibitions. A visit to the Oshogbo center, for example, would be more than just about her artwork. It would give a full exploration of ancient Yoruba culture. Oshgobo, in the cocoa-producing region, provides an awe-inspiring experience. The environment is enriched by the presence of internationally known artists such as Jimoh Buraimoh, Jacob Afolabi and Chief Oloruntoba.
Mama Nike believes that things would be rosier for her business if people understood the investment value of art. “You can use art as collateral at the bank and as a stock,” she explains.
Her second last daughter, Allyson-Aina Davies, recently returned from England, is planning to tap into the potential the creative industry in Nigeria and Africa has to offer. As the managing director of the Lagos gallery, she will be in charge of over 7,000 artworks of Nigeria’s finest in the industry.
The value of the creative industry is about to explode now that international and local art collectors are recognizing the investment value in Nigerian art. The 2010 UNESCO report on the creative industry indicated that “…the large majority of developing countries are not yet able to harness their creative capacity for development. This is a reflection of weaknesses both in domestic policy and in the business environment, and global systemic biases.” Benedict Enwonwu’s piece titled Underwater Still Life made waves in 2008 when it fetched $27,788 at Bonhams in London, exceeding the pre-estimates phenomenally. Two years later, Nigerian artwork was still attracting cash and collectors abroad. At the first commercial auction of artworks from sub-Saharan Africa in the United States (New York), the five most expensive pieces were from Nigeria. One of Ben Enwonwu’s paintings went for $91,000.
International interest in Nigerian art has also sparked interest locally over the past five years. The banking and the oil and gas sectors created dollar millionaires in Nigeria and out of this select group a few individual collectors have emerged. Recently, the Ben Enwonwu Foundation hosted a workshop on art as an alternative investment. Prince Yemisi Shyllon, Nigeria’s biggest collector whose collection at his house can take more than a day to view, was in attendance. He says in Nigeria “Art could be a form of investment, and is growing tremendously.” Commercial art auctions were not common in Nigeria until 07 March 2008 when Kavita Chellarams hosted the first commercial art auction in Lagos. Since then Chellarams’ Art House Contemporary has hosted seven auctions with average sales tallies exceeding 70% by volume per event. Among several of Mama Nike’s artworks that featured at these auctions were the piece entitled Village Market Scene which fetched $8,750; an untitled piece by Tola Wewe sold at $16,666; and the unsold Poetic Pattern of Love with an estimated value between $5,260 and $6,580.
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Developing interest in Nigerian and African art both locally and internationally is certainly Mama Nike’s intention. Until her dreams are achieved she is unlikely to put her feet up or hit the golf course.

Tag: Nike Davies-Okundaye

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

The Art Of Survival: The Art Of Adire Gave This Textile Artist Global Fame, She Now Educates Generations Of Women In Nigeria

The material of life according to textile queen Nike Davies-Okundaye

Drilling For Art