Uli: The Flowing Lines of Igbo Women's Body and Wall Art

Imagine a young Igbo woman preparing for an important ceremony a century ago. An older woman, skilled in the art, dips a fine stick or a feather into a small pot of dark liquid and begins to draw on the young woman's skin: thin, flowing lines, spirals, circles, and shapes inspired by animals, plants and the moon. As the liquid dries, the designs darken to a deep blue-black. They will last for a week or so before fading. This art is called uli, and it is one of the most elegant traditions of the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria.

What is uli?

Uli refers both to the dye and to the designs made with it. The dye is made from the seeds or fruit of certain plants that grow in the region. The juice is colourless or pale when applied, but it darkens on the skin over a few hours into a rich blue-black colour.

Uli designs were traditionally drawn by women, for women. They were painted:

• On the body — for festivals, marriages, ceremonies, coming-of-age rites, and sometimes simply for beauty.
• On the walls of houses and shrines, using earth pigments of white, red, yellow and black.

Skilled uli artists were respected, and young women learned the art by watching and helping older women.

A visual language

Uli designs are known for their linear, curving, asymmetrical quality. Artists combine thin lines and bold shapes, and leave large areas of empty space, creating a sense of balance and lightness. Many motifs have names drawn from nature and everyday life, such as:

• The moon and stars.
• The python and other animals.
• Leaves, seeds and flowers.
• Household objects such as combs, keys or stools.
• Shapes with names like "the jaws of the crocodile" or "the moon's path."

Motifs were combined freely, and an artist's skill lay in arranging them with grace and originality. Body designs were placed to follow and enhance the shapes of the body.

Decline and revival

During the 20th century, as Christianity, Western dress and modern lifestyles spread, the practice of painting uli on the body declined. Fewer women learned the art, and many motifs were in danger of being forgotten.

Then, in the 1970s, a group of artists at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, began to study and revive uli in a new form. Led by the painter and teacher Uche Okeke, and including artists such as Obiora Udechukwu and others, they collected uli motifs from older women and used them as the basis for a new modern art movement. This group became known as the Nsukka school or Nsukka group.

They used uli's flowing lines and use of space in drawings, paintings, prints, murals and sculpture, often addressing modern themes — the trauma of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–70), politics, social life and spirituality. Their work helped create a distinctly Nigerian modern art, rooted in Igbo tradition, and influenced artists across the country and beyond.

Uli today

Today, uli continues in several forms:

• In the work of contemporary artists in Nigeria and the diaspora who draw on its visual language.
• In revivals of body painting for festivals, cultural events and fashion.
• In textile and graphic design, where uli motifs appear on fabrics and posters.

Uli's revival is part of a wider movement in which African artists have reclaimed and reinterpreted traditional forms, much as artists in other regions have done with traditions like adire, the indigo cloth of the Yoruba.

Why it matters

Uli is a reminder that some of the finest art in Africa was made by women, on skin and walls, meant to last only days or seasons. Its beauty lay in its lightness and impermanence. Thanks to the artists of Nsukka and the women who shared their knowledge, uli's flowing lines now live on in galleries and studios — a delicate tradition that became a foundation of modern Nigerian art.

Further reading

• Simon Ottenberg, New Traditions from Nigeria: Seven Artists of the Nsukka Group (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997)
• Chike C. Aniakor and Herbert M. Cole, Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos (UCLA Museum of Cultural History, 1984)
• Smithsonian National Museum of African Art — Uli exhibitions