Bio

Yemisi Ajayi has won a reputation as an innovative textile artist working within the realm of traditional Yoruba cloth, motifs, and dying. She is a teacher of batik, adire  (starch resist method), dye method, and Yoruba patchwork quilting. Yemisi began her career as a textile artist in Osogbo. Yemisi has had broad success in the areas of natural dyeing, quilting, textile design, and interior decorating. She collaborates widely with many talented visual artists and with women dyeing groups to create dyeing cooperatives. She first trained at Oshogbo Art School, Osogbo, Nigeria. She started exhibiting her works in 1992 in Nigeria; and over the years she has exhibited works in several international shows in Mali, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, London, and the USA. 

Yemisi's works are viewed as a visual language the repetition and rhythm of the style generate visual movement. She links the gap between her traditional creative skill and the contemporary works that connect to the past. Ultimately, she creates work that symbolizes her tradition and she put together these visions into a concrete form in all her works. Yemisi continues to create pieces with aesthetic appeal and includes diverse patterns with new techniques - most importantly gender ideology and cultural identity have a greater influence on her works. The historical factor of her traditional practice helped to shape the passion which gives birth to all of her works. Yemisi studies Creative Art at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and Art History at Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia USA. She is a member of the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers, NextFab Studio, Philadelphia.