Nike Davies-Okundayo, internationally renowned artist and founder of the Nike Centre for Arts and Culture, built her career on the laborious craft of making adire, a traditional indigo-dyed textile from southwestern Nigeria, after surviving severe poverty, a constrained early marriage, and forced subjugation.
Learning the Craft of Adire Textiles in Rural Nigeria
Born in a poor village in 1951, Davies-Okundayo lost her mother when she was just six years old, according to her biographical account. Other female relatives then trained her in the complex, labor-intensive process of creating adire, a name derived from a Yoruba word meaning “nouer et teindre”. Young Nike learned every step of production, from extracting seeds out of cotton to spinning and weaving.
The work was grueling. Manufacturing just a few meters of the indigo-patterned fabric often took several months. Because of this slow output, her family secured only one or two orders a year from the royal family, bringing in minimal income. Davies-Okundayo recalls feeling like a skeleton from exhaustion, dividing her time between school and farm labor while struggling to secure daily meals.
Did you know? Adire cloth production is an ancient craft historically dominated by women in southwestern Nigeria, requiring exceptional patience and mastery of intricate resist-dyeing techniques.
Escaping Poverty and a Restrictive Polygamous Marriage
Faced with mounting financial distress, Davies-Okundayo left her village to work as a babysitter for a family in a distant town, sleeping on their veranda at night. During her free hours, she continued practicing her textile work. One piece of embroidery bearing the phrase “Le Seigneur est mon berger” caught the attention of local nuns, who paid her five shillings each for four additional pieces to take to Canada.
Shortly after returning to her village, her father arranged for her to become the fourth wife of an older man. To avoid the union, she fled and joined a traveling theater troupe. Soon afterward, she married her first husband, an artist who ultimately took 15 wives.
According to Davies-Okundayo, the household endured severe deprivation. She recounted that the husband withheld food and water for three days in a local church to break the women’s resistance, leaving them feeling “like lions without teeth” until they submitted.
Building Financial Independence and the Nike Centre
By the 1970s, Davies-Okundayo’s artistic reputation grew, leading to an invitation to the United States to teach traditional Nigerian crafts to Afro-Américains. Observing financially independent women abroad reshaped her perspective. Returning to Nigeria in 1982 amid ongoing domestic strife, she utilized savings from her artwork to secretly build a house in Kaduna.
When the house was finished, she announced her departure, prompting the other wives to follow her lead. She taught them adire techniques to secure their financial independence, eventually gathering roughly 20 young women to work out of a garage. Local police subsequently arrested her on allegations of practicing “American feminism.”
What began as a collection of works spread across her bedroom floor evolved into a sprawling five-story art gallery in Nigeria housing thousands of pieces from established and emerging artists. High-profile figures, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a 2024 visit, have toured the space.
Now in her seventies, Davies-Okundayo continues to host international visitors while wearing her signature adire garments. Over the decades, she has trained thousands of women in embroidery, weaving, and textile dyeing, establishing an enduring legacy of female empowerment across Nigeria.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Mama Nike?
Mama Nike, whose legal name is Nike Davies-Okundayo, is a globally recognized Nigerian artist and the founder of the Nike Centre for Arts and Culture.
What is adire cloth?
Adire is a traditional indigo-dyed textile from southwestern Nigeria, crafted using resist-dyeing techniques that involve tying, folding, and stitching cloth before dyeing it in indigo pits.
How many women has Mama Nike trained?
Over the course of several decades, she has trained thousands of Nigerian women in traditional crafts like embroidery, weaving, and adire production to help them achieve financial independence.
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