The beating of Kalabari drums summon goddesses, gods, and spiritual beings amid the chatter of the streets of Buguma, Nigeria, and the swaying of Injiri cloths. Remaining Threads questions how traditional beliefs, cultural heritage, embodied knowledge, and spirituality are mediated and altered by technology and the ruse of progress. In recent years, Injiri textiles worn in Kalabari ceremonies have been produced by machines in China, replacing the handmade processes traditionally carried out by craftswomen. Reflecting on these shifts and their implications for women’s creative practice, social roles, technologies, and aesthetics, Ibiye Camp asks what is at stake in processes of automation and what traces of social and spiritual values remain?
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