Creative Design: Professional

The Origin of Anansi the Spider

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Abstract

The Origin of Anansi the Spider is inspired by an African fable from the Ashanti people of Ghana. Anansi had a dreamed to be lord of all stories, so he went to the Sky-God Nyame and made his request. Nyame gave him the mission of bringing back a python, a leopard, and a swarm of hornets and promised that if Anansi did this, he will become lord of the stories. Anansi was a greattrickster, and was able to use his cunning wit to fool the animals into coming back to Nyame with him. Anansi succeeded and was named lord of all stories. A digital print was created encompassing all the animals on Anansi's quest. This print was used as the exterior of the traditional Ghanaian mermaid dress silhouette. Anansi was created from an etched leather image of a Huntsman spider hand-sewn onto the dress.

How to Cite:

Ellington, T. N., (2016) “The Origin of Anansi the Spider”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 73(1).