AUTREMENT : REGALIA

During 2020, when Côte d’Ivoire was bracing itself for the potential of violent elections and fearful of another bloody period of civil unrest, I received a large donation of unwanted zippers. They were left over from a closed income-generating project started by a foreign NGO and had been languishing in storage for years. 

I was struck by both their bold colours and the irony they presented; zippers are only brightly coloured in order to blend in with other fabrics and disappear. They are intended to be invisible servants holding the object or garment together. I couldn’t resist playing with this duality. 

As violence played out on the political stage and fear grew, I started piecing these zips together into long, striped bands like traditional royal Kita (Kente) cloth. I am not able to vote here so this work represents my own quiet act of resistance. It also became my prayer for the kind of leadership we need: humble persons willing to make themselves beautiful through service. 

A red bonnet is worn by many village chiefs in various West African cultures. Worn slouched to one side, it is a traditional symbol of humility. I exaggerated its form by making it two meters long. This creates a fun paradox: its exaggerated dimensions make it phallic but at the same time limp, dragging on the floor. Simultaneously it alludes to a man’s greatest pride and greatest fear. Again, I’m thinking about humility and vulnerability needed in leadership. 

People seek to make themselves appear, strong, wise, beautiful to impress and oppress. But what if we clothed ourselves with abnegation instead? What world could that create for us all?

I took motifs from embellishments found in prestigious Kita cloth and extrapolated that into an entire new textile, woven completely out of zippers.

The titles of these two works are traditional West African proverbs which call for modesty and compassion in leadership. These oral traditions ask, ‘what if the very essence or nature of leadership was humility, as these entire ‘royal textiles’ are made of zippers?’

Princesse Yennenga is a historic heroine celebrated for disregarding gender rules, defiantly fleeing an arranged marriage and, through forbidden love, becoming the matriarch of the entire Mossi culture (Burkina Faso). My hope is that as people emulate her laudable qualities they also temper this with humility and service for those around them. The geometric block design was derived from my drawings of traditional Mossi weavings.

Everybody wants to be a star, but without the night, stars are invisible. 

The best leaders work hard to make those they lead shine.

Like patchwork traditions around the globe, “N’Zassa” seeks to make the best with what is at hand. Each piece brings a contribution to the table, making the whole richer for its presence. Using zips and unconventional colour combinations I have reimagined traditional Baoulé cloth, different types of Kita and Faso Dan Fani, and cloth from Yacouba, Mooré and Benin cultures. I want each viewer here in Côte d’Ivoire to see their own region and culture represented, yet reimagined into something new. These “Anthems” and flags are, in a sense, a vision for the future. They are proposed as new flags of new societies marked by humility and mutual service on interpersonal, inter-ethnic, inter-regional and political levels.

Whilst creating the “Anthems” collection, I was asked to create an artwork in response to the question “Where are we going?” I do a lot of research into pattern and motif in many cultures and times. Squares, triangles and (zig-zag) lines are common to many of these diverse traditions. Focusing on these primal elements, makes this work at once familiar to the viewer, and a place to find common ground with a stranger. Here, again I use zippers as a metaphor for deference: something needed to see  that what we share at our core is more important than our differences. The future is something we must build together, and this basic understanding is the only place we can begin.Where are we going? I cannot exactly say, but what I do know is that Where We Start Is Where We Meet.

The Grounded series expresses my deepest longing to see local, cultural authentique expressions of faith that are simultaneously true to the core message of the Christian truths and truly and endemically African. They are encouragements in the task of decolonising biblical expression.

The textiles used and created are emblematic of this part of West Africa : Bogolan from Mali and northern Côte d’Ivoire, Ivoirien cotton, all naturally dyed. These are at once symbols of cultural identity and products of the earth— representing local, culturally-specific humanity. The use of gold paint and gold leaf symbolises the Divine and the result is an attempt at expressing the incarnation in a contextualised way. I use zippers as metaphors for abnegation, service and sacrifice. The Grounded works express the Man of Sorrows and the Suffering Servant of Scripture in a contextualised way, and also provoke local religious leadership to emulate this cultural authentic sacrificial style of servant-leadership rather than imitating the mega wealthy demigod tele-evangelists seen on international television. 

“See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah…has triumphed!”

Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain standing on the throne.

— Revelation 5: 5