Shoowa

Raffia thread, pushed through cloth and cut close, leaves a pile as soft as velvet. Shoowa textiles here are cut-pile raffia panels, cloths and dance skirts of the Kuba kingdom in the Democratic Republic of Congo, all from the 20th century. The Shoowa, one of the Kuba peoples, are especially known for this cut-pile embroidery. Men weave the raffia ground, and women embroider it with a needle, trimming each tuft short to build the plush surface. Prestige panels were given at funerals and kept as stored wealth, and by many accounts served as a kind of currency.

The patterns are geometric and freely improvised; Kuba artists prized variation, and a design may shift direction halfway across a panel. A single panel framed in a deep shadow box suits a study or bedroom, and a grid of four or nine can hold a long dining room wall. The geometry looks planned right up until it decides otherwise.