In its essence, the human body and all its possible gesticulations make it a primary means of communication.  On a sub-conscious level, one uses the body as a vehicle to enhance or emphasize various points made through speech.  However, the body is also capable of communicating silently.  Across the African continent, more specifically in the western African nations of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, factory wax printed cloths and textiles allow the body to function as a metaphorical and organic canvas, adding another dimension to the notion of body language.

            Factory wax printed cloths are not a recent phenomenon in West Africa, but rather have had an enduring presence.  This presence has its roots in the Trans-Saharan caravan trade linking North Africa with regions south of the Sahara.  This interaction yielded the establishment of European trading posts along the coast of West Africa, which in turn became part of a movement toward India and the islands of the Dutch East Indies from the late sixteenth century onwards (Spencer, 2001, 42).  Due to this growing trade network, cotton fabrics from India and batiks from Indonesia began to be imported into West Africa.  Ex-soldiers from the army of the Dutch East India Company, missionaries, traders, and explorers played a role in introducing West Africans to batiks during the nineteenth century.  By the end of the twentieth century many African countries had established their own factories producing machine-printed cloth.  Most African countries now maintain factories for the manufacture of wax prints and other machine printed cloths.  The rise in competition from African producers led to the dissemination of most European manufacturers (Spencer, 2001, 43).

            These cloths maintain their popularity because they convey multiple levels of meaning, pertaining to both an aesthetic and a moral sentiment.  They are endowed with didactic significance through the application of proverbs as a naming device. 

            The imagery present in these cloths traverse a broad spectrum relating to the natural world, personal relationships, politics, popular culture, and many other themes.  The proverb names awarded these various cloth patterns may or may not relate to their iconography.  An example of a cloth whose proverb name is in concordance with its iconography is the “Hair of Aoulaba” factory printed cloth in the exhibition Africa Embodied: the Language of Adornment.  The particular pattern of this cloth incorporates orderly rows depicting the backs of female heads with different examples of intricate hairstyles.  If one were only to focus on the iconography of this cloth, one might say that the detailed and tidy hairstyle motifs relate to the importance of the head in many African cultures as the most spiritual and powerful extremity of the human body.  The precision and order of the hairstyles then imply a sense of order and balance over this spiritually charged area of the body.           

            Upon contemplating this cloth’s name in search of further meaning, one learns that it commemorates the Miss Aoulaba beauty Pageant.  The word “aoulaba” means beautiful, large, full-figured woman, and this pageant was established by just such a woman, Madame Therese, the wife of a former president of Cote d’Ivoire.  She was opposed to the trim Western standard of beauty that had been popularized in the media, and through the Miss Cote d’Ivoire Pageant.  One wearing a garment made from this cloth could be seen as making a social commentary concerning these divergent canons of beauty.

            By acknowledging the possible significance of iconography independently of the proverb name, and then by processing these two aspects of the cloth together, several different layers of meaning are suggested that are most likely all valid, and relative to one’s subjective perception.  “Since cloth messages are implied rather than spoken, there is room for interpretation…” (Spencer, 2001, 47).

            Whether or not the pattern and proverb name of a cloth seem to relate to one another, these cloths provide a means of non-verbal communication by way of a visual language.  They hold a lot of power in their mode of expression in the sense that they become a voice for those unable to speak.

When one can neither speak nor act directly, a cloth with a proverb name can be a public voice, a risk-free way to communicate.  Anyone can insult, warn, complain, ridicule, console, or editorialize by wearing these printed factory textiles (Domowitz, 1992, 87).

Factory and wax printed cloths derive their names from the vendors who sell them in the market (usually women).  The women who then purchase and wear these cloths allow the observing public to permeate their messages.  This in turn generates a visual dialogue and an unspoken commentary on current issues and quotidian matters.  In this manner, proverb cloths transform the body into a canvas or a billboard, “whose message is repeated and reinforced as long as the cloth is seen and decoded” (Domowitz, 1992, 84).

             Proverb cloths give the body a voice that may comment or criticize in an inovert way, which fosters communication, even in a politically, socially, economically, or emotionally charged environment.  Most times, this visual language is more important than a cloth’s pattern. Perhaps the most important factor governing how well a cloth sells is whether or not it has been given a name.  Once named, its commercial value is secure.  Without a name, a cloth faces an uncertain future (qtd. in Spencer, 2001, 44).  According to one researcher, today, a popular name is considered the single most important indicator of a wax cloth’s success…the naming of motifs is an attempt to forge a link between a new design and those waxes considered classics (qtd. in Spencer, 2001, 44).

  The naming of cloths then has important economic implications.  Regardless of its pattern, consumers will not buy a cloth with an ugly or uninteresting name.  However, if given a new name, a previously unpopular cloth may be suddenly in demand (Domowitz, 1992, 86). This preference for making a statement rather than, or over the aesthetic appeal of a cloth’s iconography demonstrates how crucial the use of the body is as a template upon which to address, andreflect upon pertinent issues in contemporary Western African societies. 

                                                Bibliography

Domowitz, Susan,  “Wearing Proverbs: Anyi Names for Printed Factory Cloth,” African Arts, 15(3):         82-87.

Spencer, Ann M. Cloth is the Center of the World: Nigerian Textiles, Global Perspectives. Ed. Susan J.         Torntore. St. Paul: The Goldstein Museum of Design, 2001.