Minneapolis Institute of Art

Man's cloth

Asante artist; or Akan artist

Date

20th century

Medium

Synthetic, strip woven, supplementary weft patterning

Culture

Asante or Akan

Department

Arts of Global Africa

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Asante weavers are highly regulated and are restricted to producing cloths in traditional designs, using specific stripe patterns, motifs, and layout. Despite the seeming rigidity of design, closer inspection often reveals a wealth of variation within the susudua (pattern blocks), primarily in the choice and placement of adwen (designs). The body of this cloth contains an unusually large amount of variation in color and texture in the babadua (weft stripes). Nearly every babadua differs in the width of stripe, choice of colors and placement. There are more than three dozen distinct adwen plus countless variations. The border, however, is quite traditional, with its alternating nwatoa , babadua surrounding two long rows of the adwen 'nkyemfre' , which symbolizes the maxim 'unity in strength.' Asante or Akan, Ghana, Africa

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