Indigo & Dida Cloth

Southern Ivory Coast, raffia tubes, a funeral. Dida cloth is the work of the Dida people, who weave raffia into tubes and tie-dye them in the resist technique known as plangi. Tight bindings leave rings, diamonds and dotted grids in natural straw against deep russet, brown, yellow and black. The tubes were worn as ceremonial skirts, wraps and head-ties at funerals and dances. Kuba ceremonial cloths and Shoowa panels from the Congo, raffia dyed and stitched by hand, share the same fiber. Indigo and Dida cloth together make a graphic vocabulary of their own.

Raffia takes dye unevenly, so every circle bleeds and softens a little. Framed, a Dida skirt reads as pure pattern against raw concrete or dark-stained wood.