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Akpojotor, 31, creates portraits using
discarded pieces of ankara, a brightly coloured African fabric
that is ubiquitous from the slums of Lagos to high-powered
meetings in the capital, Abuja. She says the meaning of the
cloth helped fuel her work.
"I was so inspired by those materials," she said. "In this part
of the world we use them to celebrate all kinds of festivity:
burial, naming ceremony, wedding".
Nigeria's economy runs on oil, which pumps in billions of
dollars, but its fashion, art and film are ascending, feeding
national pride.
Ankara, inspired by Indonesian batik, was originally
manufactured in the Netherlands, but became wildly popular in
West Africa in the 1800s. Global fashion houses have used it for
nearly a decade, and prices for African artwork have risen by
70% to 100% over the past 10 years, according to London auction
house Bonhams.
Akpojotor's work combines art and fashion on canvas,
complimented with acrylic paint. A sketch of a woman's profile
comes to life as she carefully adds tiny slivers of fabric to
colour her skin, lips and clothing. Another canvas features a
child playing, her form in bright swatches, casting a shadow.
"There's a common ground between you and the work because it is
fabric, it is something that you know," she said.
She has sold pieces for as much as $25,000. Kehinde Afolabi,
associate director of Lagos's Rele Gallery, found Akpojotor on
social media and first featured her pieces in 2017.
"You can't find anybody doing similar art," Afolbai said. "It is
mind blowing, how somebody can take waste and create something
out of it."
(Reporting by Nneka Chile; Writing by Libby George; Editing by
Alexis Akwagyiram and Alexandra Hudson)
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