African artist shows kente cloth weaving

A master artist hypnotized an audience in Lord lounge Monday with his visually rhythmic weaving.

Etsay Dwashia Gilbert Bobbo Ahiagble, an Awe weaver from Ghana, demonstrated the art of kente cloth weaving as he was taught by his father. For 10 minutes the audience sat tacitly watching "Bobbo" magically create a fabric rich in reds and yellows.

Kente cloth is woven in strips that can be hundreds of feet long. More commonly the strips are about 10 feet long. Strips are sewn together to create magnificent clothes that are considered some of the finest in the world.

When Ahiagble finally spoke, his demeanor was that of a soothing educator. Getting up from his small loom, Ahiagble smiled and turned over the strip he had been working on. The audience had watched him weave a small in-laid pattern into the cloth, but when he turned it over for the audience to see, everyone gasped at the silky symbol that resided on the hidden side.

Ahiagble spoke about the meaning of the cloth in both the Awe culture and his life. "Each fabric has a name," Ahiagble said.

He told of typical names of strips, as each type of strip making up a cloth receives one.

"My own business," "I love you dearly," "Only money can solve this problem," and "Blow your own horn," were some of the names he mentioned.

"Kente is a fabric that talks," Ahiagble said. "The weaver looks at his fabric as his own child." The fabrics are worn on special occasions such as funerals and celebrations of the birth of twins.

After Ahiagble spoke, he went back to weaving on his loom. The warp, or the vertical threads of the cloth were stretched across the room. Observers surrounded him, their eager eyes buzzed around his fabrics with awe.

Ahiagble was brought to Oberlin as part of the African American Studies and Afrikan Heritage House's program: "Unity Within the Community: The African Diaspora and Us."

Kente cloth: This is an example of the kind of cloth made by Ahiagble.