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Known as ‘Mama Nike’, Nike Davis Okundayo is an internationally acclaimed artist and the founder of Nigeria’s largest art gallery, the Nike Centre for Arts and Culture. She is a vibrant, energetic, and powerful woman.
However, her early days were marked by poverty, hunger, and polygamy, as if she had been the “Lioness of Dahirabin”.
Her success after decades of struggle reads like a novel—full of ups and downs, numerous twists, and acts of rebellion.
Amid all this, her skill of creating ‘Adire’ shines brightly.
‘Adire’ is a shiny indigo cloth worn by royal families in southwestern Nigeria.
The term comes from the Yoruba word meaning to tie and dye.
This woman-centered art requires patience and perseverance—qualities that reflect Mama Nike’s extraordinary life story.
Learning
Born in 1951 into a poor rural family, options for the young girl were very limited.
After her mother died when she was six, other women in the family taught her the art of weaving ‘Adire’ cloth.
This is a tough process that could take months to produce even a small piece of cloth.
From a young age, she learned to extract seeds from cotton, spin it on a spinning wheel, and weave it.
Due to the lengthy process, Nike’s family only received annual orders from the royal family for one or two pieces per year, limiting income.
Nike describes herself then as a skeleton exhausted by hard labor.
“I used to go to school, return by two, then go to the farm. We couldn’t earn money, nor did we have enough food,” she recalls.
Recalling the pain she endured earlier, she says, “If my mother had been alive, I wouldn’t have had to endure all this.”
Later, she began to hope for independence and self-reliance through this skill of cloth-making—”It would be the foundation of my future. They were imparting this knowledge to me.”
Photo source, TOYIN ADEDOKUN/GETTY IMAGES
Having witnessed much poverty, Nike was determined to find work. Eventually, she secured a job caring for children in a family in the city reachable by walking.
At night, she would sit on the porch of the home where she worked, practicing weaving cloth as soon as the child fell asleep.
One embroidered motif read, ‘God is my protector,’ which caught the attention of some nuns. They paid her five shillings for four more motifs to be sent to Canada.
It wasn’t a large amount, but “it was big for me,” she said.
Thereafter, she began adding motifs to cloth in her spare time.
One Wife Among Fifteen
Photo source, AFP via Getty Images
However, when poverty again afflicted her family, her father agreed to make her the fourth wife to his husband.
To escape this fate, she tried to run away several times and eventually joined a troupe performing plays in her village.
This gave her new confidence—”They shaved my head. I was once afraid to make eye contact with others. I became the ‘stage master’.”
Soon after, she met her first husband, who was an artist.
Her husband had married 15 women.
Nike recalls that her husband controlled them by excluding them from the local church community.
“He kept us without food or drink for three days. He made us like lions of Dahirabin. So we agreed, by the third day we said, ‘We’re no longer jealous.’”
Art as a Form of Freedom
In the 1970s, Nike began establishing her identity through her art. She was invited to the United States to teach traditional Nigerian art.
In the US, she asked women, “How many wives does your family have?” They answered, ‘Only one.’
By then, she was weary from domestic tension, jealousy, and abuse in Nigeria.
She secretly began building a house using savings from selling her artwork.
She declared that she would leave her husband’s home, and later other wives joined her. They all learned art so everyone could work and earn some money.
She informed her fellow wives about America, saying, “There is a country where you can fully confine your spouse to yourself alone.”
They said, “Take us to that place.”
Mama Nike Opens Her Own Gallery
From humble beginnings on a mat and floor, Mama Nike’s five-story art gallery now houses thousands of works showcasing established and emerging Nigerian artists across various media.
At 70 years old, Mama Nike still welcomes visitors from around the world, captivating them with her art and stories.
Her personality is as colorful as her favorite Adire attire.
Mama Nike has played a vital role in popularizing Nigerian art; however, her greatest legacy lies in empowering women who have overcome many challenges, experiences she herself knew well.
For decades, she has taught thousands of women how to create embroidered motifs and practice the art of Adire.
This art is unique, beautiful, and proudly Nigerian—just like Mama Nike.
Based on the ‘Outlook’ series produced by Julian Seidler
