Combination

CASSAVA is a combination of previously shown installations, some recent paintings and two works specifically fabricated for the show. Inspired by my daughter Esther’s recent visit to South Africa to see her father and the year of the world cup the making of the South African flag and some thought provoking text seems to contextualise the show within the space.

HLM Costume shown in ‘Three’ at Picture This 2007 and in ‘Voices’ at the Bristol Museum Gallery in 2008 and Cassava – Clothing Art Saying Something and Valuing Alternatives shown in ‘Craftivism’ at the Arnolfini earlier this year, seem to complement each other as textiles pieces with a backdrop of the Nigerian flag.

South African Flag

The Republic’s flag is ethnic in design and concept and heralds an era of optimism, progress and peace for all its varied race groups

C: Considering Cooperatively, Communally, Collectively, Collaboratively
A: Alternatively Assimilate, Absorb, Adapt, adjust
S: SUPPOSING Systematically, Symptomatically, Suggest, suppose
S: SOUTH Africa, South Africa, Africa, South Africa
A: AFRICA South Africa, Africa, South Africa, Africa
V: VALUED Values, Varied, Vulnerable
A: ALL, altogether

C: Cooperatively Communally, Collectively, Collaboratively
A: Assimilate Absorb, Adapt, adjust
S: Systematically Symptomatically, Suggest, suppose
S: SOUTH Africa, South Africa, Africa, South Africa
A: AFRICA South Africa, Africa, South Africa, Africa
V: Varied Values, Varied, Vulnerable
A: Abundance, altogether, alternatives, abundance

May - June

CASSAVA thrives better in poor soils than any other major food plant. As a result fertilizer is rarely necessary. CASSAVA is a heat-loving plant that requires minimum temperature of 80 degrees F to grow. Around the world CASSAVA is a vital staple for about 5000 million people the third largest sauce of carbohydrates for human consumption in the world.

Clothing art saying something and valuing alternatives

Yoruba indigo-dyed cloth: Adire eleko is popular hand-dyed cloth among the Yoruba peoples, who live in Nigeria and the adjoining Republic of Benin in West Africa. Indigo-plant dye creates the characteristic blue color, which is most often applied to white factory-made cloth. Patterns are created by painting or stenciling starch, usually made from cassava flour, onto the cloth before dyeing. Starched areas resist the dye, taking on a lighter hue than the unstarched parts, which readily absorb the indigo.

Gari is a creamy-white, granular flour with a slightly fermented flavor and a slightly sour taste made from fermented, gelatinized fresh cassava tubers. Gari is widely known in Nigeria and other West African countries.