Tuesday, 19 March 2024

Textile Details

'The Africa Quilt', by Roland Agbage & Polly Eaton. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)
'The Africa Quilt', by Roland Agbage & Polly Eaton. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

 

Title of Textile:The Africa Quilt
Maker: Roland Agbage (Nigeria) and Polly Eaton
Country of Origin: Nigeria
Year Produced: 2009
Size (cm): 1.74m x 1.63m
Materials: A variety of synthetic and natural fabrics attached to a dark coloured backing fabric
Type of Textile: Quilt
Description:

This quilt was made by Roland Agbage, a young quilt-maker from Kogi State in Nigeria and designed with Polly Eaton from Britain, who lived in Abuja Nigeria for many years.

In The Africa Quilt the devastating impact of the exploitation of Africa's natural resources, on both her people and landscape, is depicted. Congo and Liberia have both suffered from the West's dependence on rubber, and the forests of Africa continue to be exported for making furniture and housing abroad. Sierra Leone's wars were fuelled by diamond money. The wars in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo continue because of the profits to be made from stripping the land of coltan (essential in mobile phones), copper, gold, tin and diamonds.

Probably the single resource that has done more to cripple fragile democracies is oil, particularly in Nigeria, where its extraction has caused terrible environmental damage.

The quilt shows us that the abundance of Africa has gone a long way to support the lifestyles of those in the wealthier nations of the world.

Owner: Ulster Museum collection
Location: Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Original / Replica: Original
Photographer: Martin Melaugh
Provenance: Acquired from Conflict Textiles collection (2022).



Textile exhibited at: Threads of Destiny: Testimonies of Violence, Hope and Survival, 9/05/2009 - 26/07/2009
The Africa Quilt, 22/10/2009 - 30/11/2009
Cultural Stories in Textiles, 25/02/2010 - 27/02/2010
Stitching Peace: An exhibition of Arpilleras and Quilts, 16/02/2011 - 18/03/2011
Stitching Peace: An exhibition of arpilleras and quilts, 17/05/2011 - 25/05/2011
Story Makers 2008-2011, Twenty-five textile stories, 13/03/2012 - 18/06/2012
SMALL Actions BIG Movements, 1/07/2014 - 11/07/2014
Stitched Legacies of Conflicts , 7/10/2016 - 26/11/2016
Stitched Voices: Knowing conflict through textiles, 17/11/2017 - 20/12/2017
Poesie des Nähens / The Poetry of Stitching, 17/01/2020 - 8/03/2020
Conflict, Peace: Our journey, our future, 14/09/2020 - 31/10/2020
State of the Art: Transformative Memories in Political Violence, 28/09/2022 - 23/10/2022



Textile Detail Image(s)