The National Art Competition is an annual art competition organised by African Artists' Foundation (AAF) and sponsored by Nigerian Breweries Plc.
Since its inception in 2008, the National Art Competition (NAC) has sought to unite artists and society through the interpretation of crucial themes proposed in each year's call for entries.
The Theme of the Competition was "Identity:Who do you think you are?"
I emerged one of the 12 Finalist in the competition and my work won the Most Outstanding Production Award.
The 12 finalist |
Receiving the most outstanding production price, flanked by GM, NB and EL Anatsui |
Arti-tude
A project presented by Victoria
Udondian for NAC 2013
Introduction
“…Over the centuries and in countless ways, imported fabrics
were thus assimilated into West African clothing traditions, becoming
characteristic components of ethnic costumes that are commonly understood as
‘traditional clothing."
Barbara Plankensteiner, in African Lace: A History of Trade, Creativity and Fashion in Nigeria
Barbara Plankensteiner, in African Lace: A History of Trade, Creativity and Fashion in Nigeria
In Nigeria, where political conflicts are spurred by ethnic and cultural
differences, identity becomes a weapon in a war of ideologies that frequently puts
fashion on the battlefield.
Well before the nation’s independence, Nigerians—irrespective of
political or ethnic leanings—imbibed a variety of fashion trends from within
and outside their immediate geographical area to boost social status.
Drawing on the theme of —Identity: Who Do You Think You Are?
The Arti-tude project exposes the dynamics and
complexities of Nigerian fashion as an identity across generations and
cultures, as researched in archival documents and photos from key historical eras,
and derived from Nigerian sartorial identities influenced by European and other
foreign contacts with Africa.
As rich as Africa is in tradition, most fashions of the ancient
period—if they truly existed—seem to have disappeared even before the arrival
of the European colonial masters. What is regarded as traditional attire today
in some cases are remnants of colonial influences, except in a few cases of
ceremonial dresses that have embroideries of native tradition and narratives. For example, most
of the fabrics used in the so-called traditional African attires are imported
from Europe—which has, of late, been facing stiff market competition from the
Far East—just as non-ceremonial conventional ways of dressing are heavily
influenced by the West. Moreover, the influx of cheap second-hand clothing has
further harmed the local textile industry. In totality, within the Nigerian context, “identity” from a clothing
perspective in some cultures is more of a myth than a reality useful in exciting traditionalists and
cultural activists.
In presenting Arti-tude, the culminating effect of
imported fabrics and used clothes, which have crept into the dressing attitude
of some sections of Nigeria, informs the collaging of ‘second-hand’ clothing
culture as components of this body of work in satirical form to question
individual identity of the ethnic nationalities.
Articulated in a series of nine self-portraits, titled Ndise mmi (My portrait), the artist embodies
the problem of identity, using her body as a starting point from which to interrogate
ethnic identity across the Nigerian fashion landscape.
Victoria Udondian's covert burlesque work excavates and
contextualizes the historical links to the peoples from the north to the west
and south of Nigeria.
“Fog of Colours” builds on this relationship between individual and collective
identity via human sculptures of different nationalities performing in
hybridized garments, This further complexify
the dialogue and implications of Nigerian traditional dress.
BRIEF HISTORY OF
ETHNIC CLOTHING IN NIGERIA
Benin (South-south Nigeria)
A historical link between the Benin and Yoruba blurs the line of
identity in the context of fashion. This much is noted in the 1897 picture of
deposed Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi (1888-1914) wearing agbada, a
garment widely accepted to be indigenous to the Yoruba. The picture is credited
to an Ijaw photographer, Jonathan Adagogo Green (1873-1905).
A century later, Benin traditional attire worn by monarchs and
chiefs included a one-piece long garment and gown-style design with a beaded
necklace. The gown and shirt designs were
foreign in origin, made with imported fabrics.
Benin women: Extravagant use of
beads, which are widely used in weddings, makes Benin traditional fashion
distinct in Nigeria’s cultural identity space. The Igbebe (beaded
wrapper) worn with setting of the beads to represent blouse in ornamental forms
as well as okuku (beaded headdress) are indeed the unique features of
Benin women.
Given that this kind of dressing is worn as ceremonial attire, the
absence of a clearly defined Benin identity in everyday dress creates a vacuum in
which imported and used clothing are able to intrude and thrive.
Coral beads have become a sort of Benin identity in modern day
Nigeria. There are two kinds of beads, namely ivie and ekan.
Oral tradition sources credit the 15th
Century Oba Ewuare with bringing the coral beads to Benin.
Oba Ewuare’s trade
relationship with the Portuguese and Spaniards gave him unparalleled access to
the beads, which occur
naturally as marine organisms that grow mostly in the
Mediterranean and Far East. One source alleges that the Oba stole them from the
goddess of the Sea at Ughoton that the Benin people considered a gateway to
Europe at the time.
For example, the
deposed Oba Ovonramwen’s family portraits pre- and post-1897 depict his wives
in European gowns with long beads as ornaments or embroidery. In fact, the Oba
himself adorned
the ring size as worn by today’s
royal personalities. More recently, Benin has seen a rising influx of cheap,
plastic faux-coral beads from China, further altering
this traditional practice.
Traditional Benin day-to-day dress, either in ancient or contemporary
times, has not been clearly established. As in most African countries, Western
influence in fabrics and designs are common; for example, like most other ethnic
nationalities in Southern Nigeria, Benin mens’ daily wear of Western male
shirts over wrappers dates back to the colonial era and persists till date.
However, their historical or ancestral link with the Yoruba fosters
the common wear, among Benin people, of the former’s three-piece outfit of buba,
agbada, and sokoto for men and buba, iro, and ipele
for women.
For Benin people—and perhaps, by extension, Edo people in
general—adopting European-style dresses as “traditional Benin” wear calls into
question the true identity of the people.
'Ndise mmi'-‐ Benin traditional attire 2013
|
Calabar: The Efik and Ibibio (South-South Nigeria)
Efik
In the mid-19th Century, after the Trans-Atlantic slave trade
was abolished, the Efik people continued to retain a strong connection with
Europe. This explains the Efik’s Western-style dress culture.
But like the Benin people, traditional
native dressing of the Efiks is pronounced in ceremonial attires, particularly
for the females. The females dress as royals, with embroideries carefully
displayed in long, flowing gowns popularly known as oyoyon. This Victorian-style
dress, in most cases, has been reduced or modified to a moderate level according
to individual tastes. However, what seems to be consistent for an Efik bride is the hairstyle called eting, in which the bride’s hair,
arranged in a long braid down the back, was decorated with a series of brass
combs. This hairstyle slightly differs between the first daughter and her
younger sisters. At 21 brass combs long, eting
adiaha, or the first daughter’s hairdo,
is much longer than that of her younger sisters, which are typically 18
brass combs in length. This is mainly to emphasize the importance of the first
daughter’s position in the Efik
culture.
Just as the people’s fattening-room culture–a process of adding
weight to a bride’s body–has given way to liberal and contemporary behavior, so has the oyoyon
attire. The Efik people’s Victorian-like long gown is traced to their early
exposure to Europeans during the slave trade and colonial eras.
Body painting of the
Efik:
The art of body painting with ndom, or clay, among the
Efik people is a symbol of purity, affection and love. From being an individual
expression in the past, the native art of body painting has become a symbol of identity
among families.
For example, body painting is used to celebrate the arrival of a
new baby into a family. And during rites of passage, a painted face indicates initiation
into a socio-cultural group of women.
Ibibio
In the Ibibio tradition, the custom of bare breast adornment has
evolved to incorporate more decorative ornaments, as is also the case among the
Efik, who share a similar culture and tradition.
More recently, similar to the Igbo of Southeast Nigeria, Ibibio women
customarily wear ofong isin, or a double wrapper, with a lace blouse of varied
style accompanied by a gele, while men wear a western shirt and wrapper
with bowler hat.
'Ndise Mmi' - Ibibio Wedding dress c.1910 |
Hausa/Fulani (Northern regions of Nigeria)
A Fulani or Hausa man of Northern Nigeria dresses in babariga,
a wide garment like the agbada. But among the Fulani or Hausa woman, elaborate
earrings have become a common sartorial identity imbibed from contemporary pop
culture.
Ear and nose piercings that place earrings as the focus of
attention
are most
peculiar to Fulani or Hausa women’s typical ornamental dressing.
Indeed, the Fulani and Hausa women were ahead of today’s fashion
when it comes to earrings, as suggests by archival pictures dating back more
than a century. For example, a 1910 picture of three Fulani girls of Senegalese
descent shows their typical body ornaments.
But in Islamic hijab dress—characterized by a long booboo that nearly covers a wrapper,
worn along with a moderate scarf or elaborate cover—the Fulani/Hausa woman
seems to have found a kind of identity. More common depictions of Hausa/Fulani
maidens; found in Nigerian media, arts and cultural displays; make use of a
jumpy blouse and knee-length wrapper or skirt sewn in calico material, which
has been taken as a typical fashion among Hausa and Fulani women. In reality,
the history of this jumpy blouse fashion is not well established.
For men, the cap—either a small, dome-like, machine- or
factory-made style; or one of two typical hand-woven designs called kube — is worn
to complete the babariga style of dress
differentiates the Hausa/Fulani man from a Yoruba man whose agbada is much like the former’s
garment.
Accessories
Among the pronounced features of the Hausa/Fulani socio-cultural
outlook is the kwarya, or calabash-dried gourd.
Akin to its diverse names, carvings and usages across cultures—
particularly as a container in domestic or farm chores—the calabash is known to
have existed more than 4000 years ago in Africa.
For the Hausa/Fulani, cultural activities are not complete
without the kwarya featuring prominently in colourful designs. Sustaining the kwarya in the socio-economic
sphere has been a challenge, however, given the rise in imported plastic, metal
and ceramic products that both replace and endanger use of the traditional gourd
containers.
Ndise mmi - Hausa/Fulani dressJumpy blouse and wrapperMaterials: Used mens underwear, calico material, used blouse, beads, kwarya (calabash) and acrylic |
Igbo (Southeast
Nigeria)
Fashion as a form of identity in Igbo land cuts across the
genders, but in ladies’ dressing, the people’s identity is stronger. The Igbo blouse/double
wrapper fashion is composed of a western blouse worn under a two-piece cotton
fabric usually wrapped around the waist.
Origin: Sources say in Igbo
culture, a single akwa ukwu, or wrapper, for women is meant for indoor
or casual dressings. For major outings, she is expected to add a second wrapper,
which makes it akwa ukwu abuo.
The 1950s saw the emergence of the complete Igbo blouse worn with akwa ukwu, which
likely started as a single cloth robed on a simple blouse, often
sleeveless, commonly worn among women of various cultures and classes as
depicted in archival pictures of the period.
For example, in a photograph of a non-Igbo Lagosian family, two
women wear the simple blouse and wrapper with scarves. A 1961 portrait of Lagos
women posing with a visiting Indian envoy shows, among
Nigerian women in buba
and iro, two ladies in sleeveless blouses and single wrappers.
What looks like the earliest occurrence of the sleeved blouse
and double wrapper in Nigerian fashion, according to archival photographs, appeared
shortly before the country’s independence circa the late 1950s. This picture
shows a woman in the full Ibo blouse and
double wrapper photographed with work colleagues during an end of year
party at the Ministry of External Affairs, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, 1960. While the culture of wrapping cloth with different materials to
cover the body cuts across cultures, particularly in Nigeria, the popular akwa
ukwu called George styled with western blouse raises
questions about the degree of native or indigenous content in Igbo women’s
sartorial identity, similar to the Igbo
man’s big shirt worn over trousers. To justify these wears as “traditional Ibo”
fashion complicates the issue of true indigenous contents in African fashion.
Fabrics: From the female
blouse and akwa ukwu to the male big
shirt, the non-indigenous contents are too pronounced to ignore. In fact, the
popular name for the double wrapper is “George.” Who exactly is George? Where did the name come from?
Ndise mmi - Igbo dressAkwa Ukwu Abuo (double wrapper), Igbo blouse and gele (head dress)
|
Yoruba (Southwest Nigeria)
Arguably one of the oldest, perhaps, few surviving African
native designs, is the Yoruba three-piece dressings for both male and female: the
buba-iro-ipele-gele, or female blouse- wrapper-headdress-shawl, and buba-agbada-sokoto-gobi,
or male big shirt-garment-trousers-cap. These designs comprise a significant fashion
identity for the Yoruba, based in southwest Nigeria.
Origin: According to
archival photographs of royal families dating back to the late 19th and early
20th Centuries, these indigenous traditional wears evolved from the agbada
and sokoto with gobi to the current three-piece complete
dressing. In this way, this style of dress is not known to have been imported,
though the blouse may have been indirect link to European fashions.
For example, pictures of His Royal Highness, Oba Gbedebo-I,
(1898-1920) and a 1904 studio portrait taken of Ladapo Ademola in London—who later
became the Alake of Egbaland after Gbadebo—show each of the men in the
two-piece-regalia of agbada and sokoto with gobi, but without the
buba. In fact, a long-sleeve shirt of Western design was worn in place
of the buba in several photographs. If indeed the inner buba for male existed then, why would Yoruba
elites, as custodians of their culture, wear a Western shirt beneath agbada?
Alake of Egbaland (London, 1904) |
Gbedebo-1 |
Alake of Egbaland (London,) |
Female: buba, iro and
ipele (shawl) with gele
(headdress) The buba began replacing the Western style shirt likely in the late 1920s or early 1930s, though more research is needed to confirm this.
Origin: Like the male
three-piece, the female dressing is also indigenous to the Yoruba people. Curiously,
photographs of monarchs such as the Alakes
of Egba and others
dating back more than one century ago hardly show Yoruba women dressed
elaborately at ceremonial public events with the kings. But that subservience
seems to have been broken in the early part of the last century, as suggested
by a group photograph of His Royal Highness Samuel Ademola II, the 7th Alake of
Abeokuta, featuring his daughter in what looks like the three-piece buba,
iro and ipele complete with gele. The picture was taken in London in
the 1920s.
Nevertheless, identity as an issue continues to resonate in the
texture of gele that the Yoruba
woman wears. While the Yoruba woman takes the credit for lifting the common
headscarf or casual woman head wears to an elaborate art piece known today as gele, the foreign and imported fabric
used in fashioning this piece challenges the notion of its African authenticity. Damask, an imported fabric, which is the most
common choice for gele across
cultures in Nigeria, clearly throws up the issue of identity.
Also the Yoruba three-piece for male and female, worn by people
across class and status is no longer the exclusive of the royals—either as everyday
or ceremonial dressings.
Fabrics: The fabrics were
mostly in the native hand-woven aso-oke or etu and adire for nearly half of the last century. But
amidst that, imported fabrics were highly sought after in wool, Dutch wax
prints known as Ankara, and later from the late 1960s to 70s, Swiss and
Austrian lace brands were in vogue. Interestingly, the aso-oke, till
date, is still used mostly at weddings in its various names, such as alaari
and sanyan.
Ndise mmi - Yoruba wear Buba-agbada-sokoto-gobi (male big shirt-garment-trousers-cap) Materials: printed fabric, piece from used shirt and pants, Rubelli fabric and bead necklace |
The o leku iro and buba trend and youth appeal:
A mini version of iro and buba emerged on the
fashion scene in the 1970s, when Western mini skirts were in vogue, perhaps to bolster
the presence of traditional Yoruba wear among young ladies . It was known then
as o leku, meaning incredible.
After more than thirty years of o leku’s
absence from the fashion scene, it experienced a resurgence on the fashion
scene in 2010. But this time, it included the male version–a mini buba and tighter sokoto or soro trouser for the male, helping the
wears attain popular appeal among 21st Century Yoruba youths and
beyond.
O leku iro and buba Materials: embroidered lace fabric, pieces from used T-shirt, Aso-oke Materials: Hand woven, used shirt scraps |
Yoruba clothing accessories:
Fila caps for men include
two types known as gobi and abetiaja. The gobi is usually oval-shaped and
elongated upward, standing erect. It is made in flexible fabric such that the
wearer can bend it in different directions to create styles. In fact, each
style–right or left and front or back–has a different meaning. Sources say a
gobi directed to the right reflects a happy mood in the wearer, while the left
suggests a bad mood. The abetiaja
cap, as the name suggests, is
designed to depict dog-like ears on the wearer.
Ndise mmi - Female agbada Materials: Used jeans, used underwear, beaded necklace |
Note: The traditional
dress of the Egba royal monarchs was used as a reference for Yoruba fashion,
since these Abeokuta indigenes have older archival photographs compared to the most
revered monarchy of the Oyo. Given that the Egba people were the earliest to interact with European missionaries, however, it is a mistake to infer that the native Yoruba dressings
originated from the Egba people.
Having popularized foreign fabrics such as lace, the Dutch wax
print known as ankara and damask, to the detriments of the Yoruba aso-oke
and adire, the people have the uphill
task of rescuing the native textile from extinction. But within the Nigerian
context, the gele fashion trend is
blurring cultural divides.
References
Plankensteiner, Barbara and Nath Mayo
Adediran. African Lace: A History of
Trade, Creativity and Fashion in Nigeria. Ghent: Snoeck Publishers, 2011.
Godwin, John and Gillian Hopwood. Sandbank City: Lagos at 150. Lagos: Kachifo
Limited, 2012.
James Agbogun. The Traditional Significance of the Coral
Bead in Bini Kingdom. Retrieved from: http://www.the-nigeria.com/2011/11/traditional-significance-of-coral-bead.html
(5th November 2011)
Kwekudee. Ibibio People: The
Most Ancient Nigerian Ethnic Group And Their Famous "Ekpo" Secret
Society Retrieved from: http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com.
(Monday, June 10, 2013)
Archival Photos
J.A. Green:
Photographs of Oba Ovonramwen
(Circa1897-1914)
Ibibio traditional
wedding dress (Circa 1910)
Unknown
Photographers
Photographs of
Alake monarchs (1920)
Ladapo Ademola
(1904).
Retrieved
from: http://nigerianostalgia.tumblr.com
MEDIUM/ MATERIALS USED
Benin dress:
Igbebe (beaded wrapper)
Materials: Used T-shirt
Okuku (beaded headdress)
Materials: Used head wear, hairnet and coral beads
Calabar dress:
Damask (embroidered fabric): used underwear, satin
fabric
Essang (Brass staff)
Eting Adiaha (the first daughter’s
hairdo): synthetic woven hair, brass combs
Ibibio dress:
Abang skirt (Ibibio wedding dress c. 1910)
Materials:
Used underwear, Dutch printed fabric (Ankara), bamboo underwear
Itam Nkwa (beaded headdress)
Materials:
Used head warmer, beads
Hausa/Fulani dress:
Jumpy
blouse and wrapper
Materials:
Used mens underwear, calico material, used blouse, beads, kwarya (calabash) and acrylic
Igbo dress:
Akwa Ukwu Abuo (double wrapper),
Igbo blouse and gele (head dress)
Materials: George fabric, embroidered lace fabric,
used burlap and beaded necklace
Yoruba dress:
Buba-iro-ipele-gele (female blouse-wrapper-headdress-shawl)
Materials:
printed fabric, Rubelli fabric, bead necklace
Buba-agbada-sokoto-gobi (male big
shirt-garment-trousers-cap)
Materials: printed fabric, piece from used shirt
and pants, Rubelli fabric and bead necklace
O leku iro and buba
Materials: embroidered lace fabric, pieces from used
T-shirt
Aso-oke
Materials: Hand woven, used shirt scraps
Female agbada
Materials: Used jeans, used underwear, beaded
necklace
Image of the final piece