Adinkra cloth

Batiks in Ghana are heavily influenced by Adinkra, the only African cloth printing tradition of pre-colonial origin.  According to Asante legend, it was introduced following the capture of a rival monarch by the name of Adinkra, who wore the cloth to express his sorrow on being taken to the Asante capital of Kumase. I thus followed his trail of tears to see for myself the birthplace of this Ghanaian textile.

            Traditional Adinkra cloth involves the printing of designs with a black dye made from the bark of the “Badie” tree using stamps carved from sections of calabash - the fruit of this tree. 

Since the ink is not fixed however, this fabric can only be worn for special occasions such as wedding, funerals and initiation rites.

 The adaptation of these same wooden stamps for the batik medium however, allowed the material to be dyed with colorfast dyes and opened the door for Adinkra symbols to be worn at anytime and for all occasions. 

Batiks in Ghana are thus filled with Adinkra symbols - each with their own name, meaning, proverb and story.