A biography baring all about the life and art of textile designer and gallery owner, Chief (Mrs) Nike Okundaye, will soon hit the bookshelves.
Entitled ‘Bata Mi a Dun Ko Ko Ka’, it is written by development consultant and conservationist, Kofo Adeleke. Ibadan, Oyo State-based BookCraft will publish it.
A brief statement on the forthcoming title on Twitter reads: “This book captures Nike’s flamboyant personality; it also explores how powerful elements of Yorùbá culture and art shaped her life, and influenced her art in diverse ways.”
The forthcoming book is attracting interest with many eager to gain more insights into Nike’s humble beginnings and how she reached the pinnacle of her art.
Born in 1951 in Ogidi-Ijumu, Kogi State, Nike’s artistic skills were nurtured at a young age by her parents and great grandmother who were musicians and craftspeople. She spent the early part of her life in Osogbo, where she further honed her craft in ‘adire’ making.
She also married fellow maverick artist, the late Twins Seven Seven in Osogbo and began training interested women and youth on making tie and dye. She didn’t stop there as she went ahead to organise them to get better value for their products from patrons.
She established four art centres/galleries in Osogbo, Ogidi-Ijumu, Abuja and Lagos which offers free training to young artists in visual, musical and the performing arts.
She is the owner of the Nike Art Centre, Lekki which holds over 7,000 artworks.
Apart from her achievements in Nigeria, the 69-year-old is also renowned globally.
She has held exhibitions and workshops in the US, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and the United Kingdom. Nike was Artist in Residence at the University of California, Berkeley, the US in 2005; Guest in Residence at the African Art Festival in Wurzburg, Germany in 2006. Harvard University invited her to conduct workshops and lectures on batik and technique of adire textile processing and African dyeing techniques in 2007.
Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa conferred her with an honorary doctorate in Fine Art in 2019. The Smithsonian Institute of African Arts invited her to deliver lectures and facilitate workshops focusing on traditional Adire textile culture the same year.
Her Art Centre in Lekki remains a significant attraction for both Nigerians and visitors to the country.