Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

Now On View at SUArt Galleries: ‘It’s A Wrap!: West African Textiles’

Thursday, November 10, 2016, By Syracuse University Art Museum
Share

The Syracuse University Art Galleries presents “It’s A Wrap! West African Textiles,” an exhibition featuring over 40 examples of textiles and their accompanying tools. Drawn from geographically proximate locales in West Africa, including Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, the textiles on display exemplify woven, stamped, appliqued and resist-dyed techniques.

Items in the exhibition of West African textiles at the Syracuse University Art Galleries

Items in the exhibition of West African textiles at the Syracuse University Art Galleries

Organized by Professor Michelle Gilbert, Department of Fine Arts at Trinity College, Connecticut, and featuring objects on loan from the collections of Gilbert and the Amyas Naegele and Eve Glasberg Collection in New York, this exhibition is sponsored in part by the Maxwell African Scholars Union, in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.

The exhibition is on view from through Dec. 23 in the Shaffer Art Building. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; and Thursdays 11 a.m.-8 p.m.  The galleries will be closed for University holidays; please visit the website for updated information.

In all cultures, clothing does more than simply cover the body. It communicates subtle visual messages about the owner. What is worn and how it is worn can be interpreted as a statement of flamboyant ostentation or modest conservatism. It may signal the prominence of a wealthy and powerful king, the presence of a deity or the existence of a mad man.

The textile culture in West African is very old—weaving is documented at Igbo Ukwu, Nigeria in the 9th and 10th centuries, and by the 11th century weaving flourished in Mali. Used in a variety of ways, African textiles can be presented as gifts to the living and the dead; used in a bride’s dowry; displayed at weddings and funerals; used as blankets for protection from the cold and mosquitoes; spread on the ground for a chief to walk over or placed in layers to cover his palanquin or funeral bed. Textiles are worn to flatter or flirt, to display power or express silent insults, or to show common group identity. The artists’ aesthetic sensibility is revealed in the cloth’s intricate patterns, textures and technical flair.

Select programming associated with the exhibition includes a special gallery talk with Gilbert, on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 6 p.m. The exhibition and programs are free and open to the public. Complete information and related programming is available by visiting the website at http://suart.syr.edu/.

  • Author

Syracuse University Art Museum

  • Recent
  • “Syracuse University to rename the Carrier Dome – what name would fans choose?”
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Lily Datz
  • Digital Badges at Syracuse University: Recognizing and Authenticating Microcredential Moments in Higher Education
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Lyndy McLaughlin
  • Social Work Student Bre’Yona Montalvo Receives First Sunflower Scholarship
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Matt Michael
  • 5 Things to Know About the JMA Wireless Dome
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Jen Maser
  • NBA Player Shares Personal Experience With Stuttering With CSD Students
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Dan Bernardi

More In Arts & Culture

Syracuse University Art Museum Piloting Object-Based Teaching and Research Faculty Fellows Program

Faculty from all disciplines are invited to apply for a pilot Faculty Fellows Program being hosted this summer by the Syracuse University Art Museum. The program focuses on object-based teaching and research. It is both a way for the art…

Innovator Lorrie Vogel ’88 to Deliver 2022 VPA Convocation Address

Innovator Lorrie Vogel ’88 will deliver the 2022 convocation address to bachelor’s and master’s degree candidates of the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) at the college’s convocation ceremony on Saturday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the stadium….

M.F.A. Exhibition ‘Steady/Retcon’ to be Exhibited on New York City’s Governors Island

  Master of fine arts (M.F.A.) candidates in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) are presenting the thesis exhibition “Steady/Retcon” over two weekends in May at the Syracuse University Governors Island House, 407A Colonels Row, Governors Island, New…

Department of Drama Presents ‘As You Like It’

The Department of Drama presents the final show of the 2021/2022 season with “As You Like It,” a ravishing new musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic story by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery. The production, directed by Rodney Hudson, will perform…

Movie Based on SU Press Book ‘Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano’ Debuts

“The Survivor,” a movie based on the Alan Scott Haft book, “Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano,” debuted on HBO and HBO Max on Wednesday, April 27. It is being released on Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.