#Nicklin Salmons Collection

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The Fattening Room Girl

Post by Faustina Yawson 

Much of my placement at the Research and Cultural Collections has involved working closely with the Nicklin-Salmons Collection. This is a large array of carefully collected items that demonstrate the research and travels of art historian Jill Salmons and her husband Keith Nicklin. These over 250 items come from different African countries, and range from rare skin covered masks to fertility dolls. Yet the object I have chosen to focus on is that of the fatting room figurine.

Okun Akpan Ekanem

Fatting Room Figurine, 1970s, wood, Nicklin-Salmons Collection of Ethnography

I initially came across a picture of a fatting room girl while scanning the images taken during Salmons and Nicklin’s field research. I was instantly struck by the girl’s distinct appearance as, seated nobly with her hair parted and high, she radiated honour and dignity. To my delight I later came across the wooden figurine. The object, carved by Okun Akpan Ekanem of Ikot Ekpe, Ikot Ekpene division, was clearly inspired by the appearance of fatting room girls such as the individual in the above image. I decided that writing about this object would provide me with the opportunity to learn more about the fatting room’s significance.  

Keith Nicklin

Photograph of a fattening room girl, 1971, Nicklin-Salmons Collection of Ethnography

Across different cultures the movement from girlhood to womanhood is marked by a series of ceremonies. During their field research, Salmons and Nicklin studied the traditions and art works of the people of Calabar, a city in the Nigerian Cross River Region. For the Efik people of Calabar, the journey into womanhood is signified through the Iria ceremony, with the girls who partake in this called iriabos. Traditionally, the aim of Iria was to ensure that girls were properly prepared for their roles as mothers and wives. The rite’s main feature is the iriabos’ admission into fatting rooms: secluded areas or huts where girls are kept and prevented from undertaking strenuous work.

Before entering fatting huts, girls must present themselves to their village. During this procession the Iriabos’ virginity is inspected by elders and the women in charge of the ceremony, with a large emphasis placed on their chastity. Traditionally, female genital mutilation was a part of these ceremonial rites, but in recent times this practise has fallen out of favour and was officially banned in Nigeria in 2015.

For the inspection, the girls are painted with intricate designs that lace across their face, chest and arms, and are decorated with a chalk named ndom. The object’s artist Ekanem depicts the characteristics of fatting room girls in his own work. The symmetrical lines painted across the figurine’s body are similar to the patterns seen on Iriabos. Additionally the wooden figure is pink in colour, a nod to the Iriabos’ practise of covering themselves with ndom.

Once their chastity has been assessed, the Iriabos are then allowed to enter their separate fatting rooms. They are also fed large amounts of whichever food they desire, and ordered to get plenty of rest. It is important that girls gain weight, as it is thought that this will help them with conceiving and bearing children, furthermore largeness was traditionally a sign of wealth and beauty in many Nigerian cultures. Though, in recent times this perception of beauty has given way to a more Eurocentric preference for a slim and slender frame.

There are an additional number of distinct outward features that mark out Iriabos, many of which are depicted in the figurine. The rings tied around the figure’s legs represent the copper wires Iriabos wear to restrict their movement, as the purpose of the fatting room is relaxation. Additionally the figurine sports a distinct coiffure, with her hair parted into large spheres across her head, much like the individual in the image. While some girls shave their hair for the ceremony, other cultures have adopted this hairstyle.

Once the isolation period is up, through a ceremony attended by the whole community, the Iriabos celebrate their leaving the fatting room. They are adorned with coral jewellery, as seen on the figurine, and present themselves to their community and potential suitors.

This large celebration marks the Iriabos’ first step into womanhood. While coming out was traditionally followed by marriage, many girls who now complete this rite look to other personal goals such as finishing their education. While this ceremony was initially intended as preparation for marriage, it is also a deeply personal journey that signifies how women seek to define themselves, as they enter a new stage in life. The evolving interpretation of this rite was further evident in the recent series Fattening Room. In which a group of modern African women experienced the ceremony, learning to both reconcile and challenge traditional ideas of womanhood. While the tradition wains, it is crucial that works of art such as Ekanem’s wooden figure continue to draw attention to this practise, keeping its legacy alive.

Special thanks to Jill Salmons for all the reading suggestions and information provided.  

Further Reading

Abel Crespo, Emily Duque and Diana Zuhlsdorf, Iria Ritual; A Celebration of Feminism or Femininity?

Pamela J. Brink, The Fattening Room in Nigeria.

Pamela J. Brink, The Fattening Room revisited.

Patricia Levy, Nigeria

Imo Nse Imeh, Daughters of Seclusion: The Revelation of the Ibibio ‘Fattened Bride as the Icon of Beauty and Power (Black Studies and Critical Thinking)

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Masquerade in the Cross River Region and craft practices

Post by Anna Young

This week marks the final week of Masquerade in the Cross-River Region: the Nicklin-Salmons Collection. This exhibition celebrates the imminent donation of the Nicklin-Salmons Collection of Ethnography to the Research and Cultural Collections. The exhibition introduces highlights of the wider gift and features photography taken during Keith Nicklin’s fieldwork in the Cross-River region of Nigeria and Cameroon in the 1970s. These photographs vividly bring to life masquerade, mask art forms and the production of masks.

Masquerade in the Cross River Region

Image Credit: Patrick Dandy

Keith Nicklin’s research initially focused on the production of skin-covered masks, but he was also documenting wider craft practices such as the making of traditional clothing, bark cloth, raffia cloth weaving and screw pine matting. Nicklin devised ways of encouraging often very old craftsmen to demonstrate their skills to him in order to document and record these declining skills by video and photo. He called this process the ‘ethnographic retrieval method’.

The Danford Collection of West African Art and Artefacts contains objects that reflect these traditional craft practices, for example bark cloth manufacture. Traditions of bark cloth manufacture predate the development of woven textiles in most parts of Africa. The process and materials of production are similar across Africa but whilst Nicklin was studying bark cloth in Nigeria, it originated from the Baganda people of Southern Uganda.  

Bark cloth is thought to be the world’s oldest type of textile and the Baganda were most likely the originators of the practice in Africa. The Baganda process of manufacturing bark cloth has been declared a masterpiece of world intangible heritage by Unesco.

Bark cloth is made by processing the bark from trees from the mulberry and fig family.  In Nigeria, this is made from the Oro tree (Antiaris toxicaria or Antiaris) whereas in Uganda, it’s the Mutaba tree (Ficus natalensis or Natal Fig). The process of production is the same no matter the variant of tree.

The first layer of bark is stripped off to reveal a softer second layer, which is peeled off in large sheets. Banana leaves are then wrapped around the exposed tree to allow it to regrow the next year.  This means that the cloth is a sustainable resource and as such, many designers interested in sustainable fashion have started using the cloth.

The bark is boiled for a short time - some say to enrich the final colour, others say it is to keep the moisture in - then placed on a log and a series of beaters or mallets (nsammo) are used to pound the bark into a cloth. 

Baganda (Uganda)

Ridged beater for making barkcloth, wood, Research and Cultural Collections

The grooves on the nsammo are designed to stretch the fibres of the bark and it’s made from dense hardwood to pound the bark thin.  Other types of nsammo are used at different stages of the process - sometimes they’re shaped like a baseball bat and ridged along the length of the tool to stretch the fibres the opposite way.  The process is fairly labour intensive: it takes up to 5 hours of pounding, rolling and re-stretching.  Over this time, the bark becomes a thick but supple cloth.  It is stretched a final time, then laid outside to dry and develop its signature rust colour.  

Barkcloth sample from the Danford handling collection

Bark cloth was the traditional cloth used for ceremonial clothing, shrouds for the dead, bedding and home decoration.  Whilst bark cloth was supplanted by cotton and other woven textiles as an everyday fabric in the late 19th century, there has been a recent resurgence in the manufacture and wearing of bark cloth in Uganda. Contemporary textile designers and artists interested in exploring traditional methods and cultural practices are using the cloth and more Ugandans are buying clothes made from the material as a way of representing their heritage.