Moth to Cloth: Silk in Africa

While some museums are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Apollo’s usual weekly pick of exhibitions will include shows at institutions that are currently open as well as digital projects providing virtual access to art and culture.

Drawn from the Dallas Museum of Art’s significant holdings of silks from sub-Saharan Africa, this display offers an overview of sericulture in the region from the late 19th to the mid 20th century. Handwoven kente cloths worn by the royals of the Asante kingdom (in modern-day Ghana) are displayed alongside prestigious robes made in the Hausa and Yoruba regions of Nigeria and often embroidered by specialists of the Nupe people; the show, which runs from 20 December–24 October 2021, also includes Malagasy shawls from Madagascar. Find out more from Dallas Museum of Art’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here

Robe for a male dignitary (boubou riga or agbada; late 19th century), Hausa peoples, Nigeria. Dallas Museum of Art

Man’s prestige wrapper (c. 1920s–30s), Asante peoples, Ghana. Dallas Museum of Art

Lamba akotifahana (mid–late 19th century), Malagasy peoples, Madagascar. Dallas Museum of Art