Madras fabric originally from India, is a lightweight cotton with a colourful patterned texture and a distinctive plaid design. This iconic fabric circulated through the world during the transatlantic slave trade and has evolved into a variety of designs redefined by communities. In Buguma, Nigeria we pull the thread from our plaid Madras cloth, redesigning the texture, and this is called Pelete Bite.
Madras fabric originally from India, is a lightweight cotton with a colourful patterned texture and a distinctive plaid design. This iconic fabric circulated through the world during the transatlantic slave trade and has evolved into a variety of designs redefined by communities. In Buguma, Nigeria we pull the thread from our plaid Madras cloth, redesigning the texture, and this is called Pelete Bite.
In recent years the technique of Pelete Bite and many other tradition cloth techniques have been manufactured outside of Nigeria. Today Nigeria relies on textile imports from China, causing a change in flow of trade.
I plan to carry out my research in Guangzhou, where African-style textiles are heavily manufactured. Sub-Saharan African traders reside in Guangzhou and act as a middle-man between the manufactures and exports to markets in the African continent. Remaining Threads will demonstrate entanglement of traditions, communication, bodies and machines.
Ibiye Camp a British Nigerian artist and tutor. She was born in London and is a tutor at Royal College of Art in London. She spends part of the year in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. In Freetown Ibiye and her partner Duval Timothy work in Carrying Colour Studio. Ibiye graduated from MA Architecture at the Royal College of Art in 2019 and studied her BA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins in 2013.
Ibiye Camp’s work investigates postcolonial subjects, technology, and the built environment. Ibiye’s practice uses architectural tools to create video, augmented reality and 3D objects. Her past projects in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ethiopia investigated the dynamics of technology as a means to explore the glitches and tensions between digital infrastructure and the landscape. Ibiye is a member of the design collective Xcessive Aesthetics and also runs a clothing line called
‘Such A Fan’, which was presented in a performance at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2016. In 2019 Ibiye’s projects were presented in the Porto Design Biennale and Sharjah Architecture Triennial, and in 2020 she showed in the Triennale Milano and Istanbul Design Biennial.