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Black thread

Contemporary fashion designers of African origin meet classic textiles from the collections of the Museums of World Culture

Black Thread follows West Africa's ancient dynamic textile traditions to today's designers. The exhibition's co-creators Marché Noir and Imane Ayissi are two Paris-based brands making a big impression on the international stage. Their creations follow the thread back to West Africa's weavers, tailors, markets, colors, materials, and cuts — beyond the image of printed fabrics as typically African.

AGBOZUME

The exhibition design recalls Agbozume. The massive market in Ghana near the Togo border has long been a regional trade center for textiles and clothing. Marché Noir founder Amah Ayivi regularly visits the Agbozume market to get inspiration and source handmade fabrics and second-hand clothes. He transforms these into garments for the Paris market.

COLLABORATION

The exhibition is a collaboration between the Museums of World Culture project Ongoing Africa and Marché Noir, Art Comes First, Imane Ayissi, Just Africa, and the French Institute in Sweden.

Black Thread is part of Ongoing Africa – an exploring- and method developing dialogue project aimed to enhance new perspectives on the African continent with and by Swedes of African origin. Part of the Black Thread exhibition will be displayed in Stockholm at the Museum of Ethnography.

Black Thread is on display from October 10 2020 - August 29 2021.

Photography by Robert Preston