Nigerian artist Marcellina Akpojotor’s works are visual narrations of the social fabric that weaves her community together. And what better way to portray scenes of everyday life of togetherness, sharing and caring other than with the Ankara fabric, a cultural staple amongst many tribes in Nigeria and West Africa.
Marcellina’s artistic explorations started at a very early age, while assisting her father who worked as a sign maker. Recalling it as her first apprenticeship, she had the opportunity to learn and practice various artmaking skills like stenciling, calligraphy, painting landscapes, making banners, and making signs on the bodies of cars and buses.
It did not take her too long to realize her passion and what brought her the utmost joy and pursued studies in art and industrial design at Lagos State Polytechnic.
The process is hugely focussed on sourcing. Not just the fabrics, but also sourcing the memories and the histories. She gathers the discarded fabric cut-outs and leftovers from tailoring shops in her neighbourhood. For Marcellina, Ankara fabric works best for her creations as they carry alot of cultural significance and has been worn by generations of women and continues to be worn by the younger generation today. Ankara print fabric is worn at wedddings, burial ceremonies, birthday celebrations and other social gatherings to commemorate and show unity at these events.
Mixed Media 96 x156 inches, 2019
“These fabrics remind me of community, of people coming together, which is important because my work is very interested in communities and the continuous dialogue that happens within them,” Marcellina says. “My work makes me look at fabric as a way to design and make motifs to commemorate this huge community of women and their experiences, and using fabric they would have or could have worn, it might carry with it what they might have felt. I can try to capture their essence and share that with a new audience.”
Employing collaging and traditional painting techniques, Akpojotor produces richly textured and layered work with compelling visual imagery exploring femininity, personal and societal identity and issues surrounding women empowerment in contemporary society. Working primarily with discarded pieces of the Ankara fabric ─ sourced from local fashion houses ─ commonly known as the ‘African print fabric’ despite its Dutch origin, she investigates the politics of the fabric as a cultural signifier and a conduit for memory and shared energy.
Her 2018 work “Daughters of Esan” was inspired by a conversation with her mother who narrated stories of her great grandmother who used to say that if she ever returned in another life, she would want an education, a book and a pen. In this series, Marcellina uses fabric to illustrate five generations of women – her great grandmother, her grand mother, her mother, herself and her daughter all reading a book or besides a bookshelf portraying their quest for education.
In her work, Akpojotor presents powerful images that at once captures the unyielding strength, complexities and seemingly effortless style of her subjects while also referencing the long, arduous journey to female empowerment and gender equality, especially in contemporary African societies.
All Images © Marcellina Akpojotor
