I was one of 15 wives, until art helped me escape
Posted by: Benjamin Onuorah
Nike Davies Okundaye, better known as Mama Nike came from a family of artisans, skilled in producing traditional adire cloth much prized by Nigerian royalty. However, the family was not wealthy, and she lived in an area where polygamous marriages were common. To avoid such a marriage at 13 she ran away from home several times, at one point joining a travelling theatre.
Partly driven by her desire to practise art, she later married a well-known artist, however he also married another 14 women. Despite infighting between the wives, Nike taught them the traditional adire making skills she had learnt as a child, and when she eventually left her husband all the other wives wanted to follow her. Since then, Nike has encouraged many more women to develop their artistic skills, sell their work and gain financial independence. She is now an internationally recognised artist and gallery owner.
Mama Nike was one of 15 wives. When she left her husband to make art, the other 14 wives chose to follow her...
Artist Nike Davies Okundaye - better known as Mama Nike - grew up in an area of Nigeria where polygamous marriages were common.
The women in her family were makers of traditional adire cloth. From the age of six, Mama Nike's great grandmother, mother, and aunt taught her how to spin, weave and dye.
"I didn't know it was my own future food," says Mama Nike - because, despite her family's craft, money was scarce.
At the age of 13, her father decided to marry her off to someone who already had several wives.
But her great grandmother wanted her to choose her own marriage - and so did Mama Nike. She escaped from the men who had come to take her away, and trekked for five days back to her village.
"It's the biggest risk I ever took," she says. "I didn't care if I died."
She arrived home exhausted and covered in bee stings. Even so, her father tried to marry her off again. This time, Mama Nike ran away and joined a travelling theatre, until police arrested her and brought her back.
Eventually, she agreed to marry a well-known artist and musician from Oshogbo, a town renowned for its artistic community.
She used her sewing and embroidery skills to make costumes for her husband's band - while trying to make her own art.
"The men didn't want a woman to be an artist. So, I worked in the night, and worked for them in the day," she says.
Her husband went on to marry 14 other women.
Tradition demanded those who were already wives accept each new marriage - but Mama Nike says they didn't always want to.
On one occasion, the husband took the women to a church where they were denied food, water, or access to their children.
"By the third day we said, 'Bring the wife, we're not jealous anymore.' Our mouths were like boards - dry,".
She says living with her husband made her feel "like a lion with no teeth. You have no power."
She began to teach her co-wives traditional adire making skills, and soon, each of them was able to make their own money.
Sick of her husband's control and abuse, Mama Nike left him as soon as she'd saved enough to buy her own place - and the other wives chose to follow her.
She opened her first formal gallery in Oshogbo in 1986.
She is now an internationally renowned artist, with a huge gallery in Lagos where she teaches others and makes her own colourful, beautiful art.
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