Unknown Maker, West African

An accomplished Zarma artisan hand-wove 15 narrow strips on a wooden loom and then sewed them together to create this dynamic checkerboard composition. Cotton textiles in this style draw from traditions in adjacent Fulani communities, where fine wool weavings are gifted for weddings, enfolding newlyweds in the warm embrace of their family’s love and protection, then used as blankets and sometimes as wrapped garments. Green and orange stripes, seen here, started appearing in these blankets in the 1960s in celebration of Niger’s independence from French West Africa in 1959.

–Kate Irvin, curator of costume and textiles