Kente is very colourful; the weavers use all different colours together, and the designs may be triangular, hexagonal, all sorts of geometric shapes. For a ‘full-man cloth’ between 22 and 24 strips are needed. The looms they use are traditional narrow looms.

Kente cloth is really for special and ceremonial use. In a family it is always passed on from father to son or mother to daughter, and it is treated as a treasure in every home.Kente cloth, made by the Asante peoples of Ghana and the Ewe peoples of Ghana and Togo, is the best known of all African textiles. Kente began as festive dress for special occasions and appears in other important forms of regalia, including drums, shields, and fans. Over the past forty years, the cloth has been transformed into other accessories worn and used on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the United States, kente strips may be sewn into liturgical and academic robes or used as designs on everything from Band-Aids to beach balls. Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity bridges two continents, evoking and celebrating a shared cultural heritage. The exhibition explores both the art and symbolism of kente in the cultures of Africa and its expression of identity in African American communities. more