Honouring Heads of State

This textile, printed by an unidentified manufacturer, depicts the first Tchadian President, François N'Garta Tombalbaye, and Sudan Major-General (and later President of Sudan) Jaafar Muhammad Nimeiry. Tombalbaye and Nimeiry were contemporary heads of state from 1969 to 1975, both leading their countries through tumultuous post-independence periods under single-party rule (1)(2). Sudan borders Tchad to the east and has had close, and at times strained, diplomatic ties since the postcolonial governments' establishment in 1956 and 1960 respectively.

A prominent korosho–patterned border frames the central portrait medallion motifs and the outlines of countries Tchad and Sudan with their capital cities indicated—Fort-Lamy, Republic of Tchad, was renamed N’Djamena by Tombalbaye in 1973, and Khartoum is the capital city of the Republic of the Sudan. Portrait medallions of the two leaders are centred on the cloth with their subject's name in French in a cartouche above and below the medallion. The dark green background with black, white, and red accents is reminiscent of the Pan-Arab colours of the Sudanese flag while the blue, red, and gold details evoke the colours of the Tchadian flag.

According to donor Elizabeth Richards, who was gifted this piece by her late friend Que Marinier, similar wraps were commonly worn by women in the region as casual, everyday wear.

Produced by an unknown manufacturer, this segment of printed wrap cloth was made to celebrate Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the early 1980s during his term as first Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. The stylized structure bordering the lower half of this piece is representative of the iconic mortarless walls and conical tower of Great Zimbabwe, the monumental remnants of an ancient medieval city after which the country is named.

The magnificent stone structures of the ruins' Great Enclosure evoke themes of stability, tradition, and Shona architectural excellence (1). The harvest-yellow floral border surrounding the central portrait medallion suggests the agricultural abundance of an autumn cornucopia. Motifs of a crowing rooster in front of the rising sun have been commonly used during the African independence and Pan-African movements to represent cultural awakening (2). The black-and-white illustration of hands breaking manacles symbolize Mugabe's importance to the African independence movement: he was seen by many as responsible for breaking the figurative shackles of British minority rule in Zimbabwe (3).

A contemporary, nearly identical piece (worn as a wrap cloth by a Mugabe supporter at St. Xavier College in Kutama, Zimbabwe) was photographed in an article that ran in the Edmonton Journal to promote a January 1987 visit to Zimbabwe by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (4).