Ewe Strip-Woven Cloth

Red, green and yellow, and a center that keeps rearranging itself as you look.

This Ewe strip-woven cloth comes from Ghana in West Africa and dates to the 20th century, in cotton. Ewe weavers are known for varying their patterns freely from strip to strip, and a cloth of this size would have been worn as a wrapper on occasions that called for dressing well. Dense stripes of red, green and brown fill the field. Toward the center, small blocks pack together into a tight grid with rows of tapering shapes. Yellow, orange and gray blocks float further out. One hundred sixteen inches by seventy-one.

It takes a while to find the pattern. Then it takes a while longer.