MOOD INDIGO

Gasali Adeyemo’s textile designs

THEoldest resist dyeing technique used for textiles in Nigeria is adire eleko, a practice which involves the use of cassava paste, a small broom, and a chicken feather. Nigeria-born local artist Gasali Adeyemo uses either a stencil to create his textile patterns or draws them by hand. He dyes his garments using indigo. Then, using a small knife, scrapes off the wax.

A master at adire, as well as tie-dye and batik techniques, Adeyemo incorporates traditional Yoruba designs with symbolic and biographical meanings into his textiles.

This will be his 12th non-consecutive year with the International Folk Art Market (Thursday, July 7 through July 10) on Museum Hill.

“I was there since the beginning,” says Adeyemo. “The first one, I went with someone who represented me. But from then on, I’ve been there as my own representative of my fiber art tradition.”

Before coming to the United States in 1996, Adeyemo, 60, would gather indigo plants by hand, a practice he’s had to abandon since living in New Mexico, although he still uses Nigeria-grown indigo, which he imports.

“Indigo plants grow by the season,” says Adeyemo, who travels internationally, teaching workshops on the various techniques he uses to create his designs, which he also presents locally to students in Santa Fe’s public schools. “It has a long history in my country.”

Adeyemo’s mother, who taught him adire, was a midwife, and his father was a healer.

“Indigo is one of the major plants they used in medicine for healing.”

Adire is an older technique than batik. And it makes use of the cassava root, which is a staple, not only in the diet of Yoruba people but for all manner of utilitarian purposes.

“The adire cloth designs are not improvised,” he says. “They’re telling a story. It’s a way of preserving history so it doesn’t vanish. And it’s a way to speak out and send a message.”

In addition to the indigo, Adeyemo’s cotton is sourced near his home village too. The indigo, which grows wild, appears in the rainy season. The broom straw and chicken feather are used as brushes to create the patterns. For his batik work, he uses beeswax or paraffin wax as a resist.

“Folk Art Market gave me a lot of belief,” Adeyemo says. “Before, I didn’t know that I could do this, reach a different level with my work. But what the market does for folk art is pretty big. The market we do on the weekend doesn’t end there, because it opens so many doors, so many opportunities. It changed my life.”

It also gave Adeyemo a chance to give something back to the people of his village.

“I called my brother and said, ‘You know what? I want to dig a well,’ because I know how difficult it is to find water in the village. And I did that. Where did I get the money from? It came from IFAM.” — M. A.