by Maha Olatokunbo
Have you visited the Nike Art Gallery in the heart of lekki, Lagos Nigeria? It is a sight to behold and the artworks therein will capture your mind and soul. The woman and brain behind it is no other than the Mama herself Chief Mrs Oyenike Davies-Okundaye, with a lot of aliases such as “Nike Davies”, “Nike Twin Seven Seven”, “Nike Olaniyi”, “Mummy Nike” and so on.
Oyenike Davies-Okundaye was born in 1951 in a small village called Ogidi-Ijumu in Kogi State. At the age of 6, young Nike lost her mother and had to live with her grandmother. Just a year after that, she lost her grandmother also. Following the demise of her mother and grandmother, she had to move in with her great grandmother. This was where Nike was principally educated in art by her great grandmother and an aunt who was an artist.
Her great grandmother was a weaver and an “Adire” textile maker/dyer during her lifetime. Adire is a form of textile art done by using indigo dye in different unique tie and dye techniques. Growing up in such ancient environment and the loss of her mother and grandmother had an impact on her educational background.
Nike Okundaye’s father, late Nicolas Ojo Allah, was a village traditional drummer and baskets weaver in his days. Due to little availability of funds, he could not assist young Nike much in acquiring higher western education. All these happenings resulted in her having no serious formal western education. It is interesting that today, she teaches Universities and is globally acknowledged for her craft and knowledge. This, coming from a woman with no “formal western education”, is truly exceptional.
Having a geniune love for various forms of art, Nike Okundaye created an Aso-Oke textile weaving center at Ogidi-Ijumu near Kabba in Kogi State in 1996. She did this also to empower the women of the village by employing and empowering more than 200 women in the Aso-Oke textile weaving center. She has also contributed to adding value to the Nigerian Economy.
Nike has used her international success to launch a cultural revival in Nigeria. She is the founder and director of four art centres which offer free training to over 150 young artists in visual, musical and performing arts – one of which is the largest art gallery in West Africa, compromising over 7,000 artworks. The centre also serves as a rich source of knowledge for traditional arts and culture to scholars and institutions.
From her first solo exhibition at the Goethe Institute, Lagos in 1968, Nike has grown to become one of the major names on the international art circuit. In 2013 Chief Nike’s painting with the famous adire symbols in the background was accepted by the world’s largest museum, The Smithsonian.
She ‘represents the new breed of African female artist, many of whose realities are now international, though in essence they are perpetuating the living tradition of female artists and ‘cloth-queens’, controlling heady empires of fabric- wealthy powerful women’. Nike is known all over the world for promoting her designs through exhibitions and workshops in Nigeria, USA, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Italy, to mention a few.
Oyenike Davies-Okundaye was born in 1951 in a small village called Ogidi-Ijumu in Kogi State. At the age of 6, young Nike lost her mother and had to live with her grandmother. Just a year after that, she lost her grandmother also. Following the demise of her mother and grandmother, she had to move in with her great grandmother. This was where Nike was principally educated in art by her great grandmother and an aunt who was an artist.
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| Some of her works at the Gallery |
Nike Okundaye’s father, late Nicolas Ojo Allah, was a village traditional drummer and baskets weaver in his days. Due to little availability of funds, he could not assist young Nike much in acquiring higher western education. All these happenings resulted in her having no serious formal western education. It is interesting that today, she teaches Universities and is globally acknowledged for her craft and knowledge. This, coming from a woman with no “formal western education”, is truly exceptional.
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| At the Nike Art Gallery, Lekki, Lagos. |
Nike has used her international success to launch a cultural revival in Nigeria. She is the founder and director of four art centres which offer free training to over 150 young artists in visual, musical and performing arts – one of which is the largest art gallery in West Africa, compromising over 7,000 artworks. The centre also serves as a rich source of knowledge for traditional arts and culture to scholars and institutions.
She ‘represents the new breed of African female artist, many of whose realities are now international, though in essence they are perpetuating the living tradition of female artists and ‘cloth-queens’, controlling heady empires of fabric- wealthy powerful women’. Nike is known all over the world for promoting her designs through exhibitions and workshops in Nigeria, USA, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Italy, to mention a few.
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