Ibiye Camp

Ibiye Camp
Mosh Iria
2022
Textiles, wood, wax, natural dyes from kola nut, hibiscus and digital video documentation
Videos: Mosh Iria Merging 14:37”, Oxidising Kola Nuts 9:44”

Assisted by Lauren-Lois Duah and Yolanta Boti

Ibiye Camp’s multi-media installation Mosh Iria explores the trade and importation of textiles, food produce and ingredients originating in West Africa and the goods sold and traded on Deptford High Street. The High Street in Deptford, like many across London, is an important space for maintaining and preserving diaspora cultures; an interest Camp has explored through her wider research-led engagement connecting technology, trade, and material of the African Diaspora. Mosh Iria is an offering , a query into West African disporatic practices and an exploration of a wave of evolving  traditions practised in London. 

Using textiles from Rose African Fabrics (a longstanding Nigerian-owned business on Deptford High Street) Camp has practised natural dyeing techniques to produce an impression of blouses worn by Kalabari women in River State, Southern Nigeria. In Buguma, a woman who is praised is called an Iria bo. Traditional Irias wear outfits with a wrapper (the down) and a matching blouse or scarf (the top), the attire is often finished with coral and gold jewellery. Camp displays various styles of the traditional Irias’ downs and tops assembled as a series of large sculptures stained with Kola Nuts. 

Kola Nuts are used in cultural and spiritual customs across the African continent. The Kola Nuts used to stain these textiles were purchased from Sharon Groceries Food Store on Deptford High Street; another Nigerian owned business importing African foodstuffs to serve the local diasporic communities. Kola Nuts which are imported to the UK produce a less intense dye than the rich amber and sienna achieved when dying fabrics in West Africa. The resulting inconsistent tone of the dyed cloth highlights a tension which exposes the Kola Nut’s distance from its original province. 

This tension is revealed in Camp’s film Mosh Iria Merging, which records the dying process applied with a Data-Moshing technique  that morphs video documentation of the blouses being waxed, boiled, dyed, and dipped. This technique synthesises the repetition of tension, movement, disrupted flow, creating a mosh-pit of remixed material and practices. Oxidising Kola Nuts continues to employ the notion of time by showing the change in colour of the Kola Nuts as they age. 

Mosh Iria is a Deptford X commission