Chief (Mrs.) Oyenike Monica Okundaye popularly known as Nike Davies-Okundaye aka "Mummy Nike" was born on May 23rd 1951 at Ogidi-Ijumu, Kogi State, Nigeria.
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| Chief (Mrs) Nike Davies-Okundaye |
A woman of very modest beginnings, Nike Davies-Okundaye had no formal education because her parents could not afford to pay for her education.
She was educated in art by her great grandmother, a weaver and "adire" textile maker, whom she lived with after the death of her mother and grandmother.
Today, she holds several traditional chieftaincy titles due to the positive impact she has made in the lives of so many people through her work.
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| Chief (Mrs) Nike Davies-Okundaye |
A professional textile artist and painter, Nike Davies-Okundaye is one of the most respected internationally known female artists from Nigeria. She is a member of several professional bodies including Society of Nigerian Artists, ASA of USA and Canada, ACASA, Society of Nigerian Women Artists, Member of Osun Support Grove, Board member of the National Heritage Council of
Nigeria, Member of the Board of Trustee of Osun State Centre For Black Culture and International understanding, amongst others.
A social entrepreneur and philanthropist, Nike Davies-Okundaye is the Managing Director/CEO of Nike Center for Art and Culture, Osogbo and Nike Art Galleries, Lagos.
In 1983, Nike, in her generous nature, took 20 girls off the streets, accommodated, fed and taught them how to earn their source of income through the arts. This led to the establishment of Nike Center for Art and Culture. To date, more than 3,000 disadvantaged youths have been freely trained at the Center.
She is the Founder and Managing Director of "Nike Art Productions Limited" and "Nike Research Centre for Art and Culture Limited."
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| Chief (Mrs) Nike Davies-Okundaye (mummy Nike as she's fondly called). |
In 2002, Nike established an Art and Culture research center at Piwoyi village, Abuja equipped with an art gallery and a textile museum, the first of its kind in Nigeria which will provide functional platform for research into Nigerian traditional textile industry in Abuja.
In 2007, she founded the "Nike Art and Culture Foundation" which aims at fostering Nigerian cultural heritage.
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| Marvella Odili (Founder and CEO, Save Our Needy) with mummy Nike |
Nike has been invited by Ivy League universities in America, England and Canada such as Harvard University to conduct workshops and give lectures on African batik, the technique of adire textile processing and African dyeing methods.
She has received several awards in recognition of her outstanding work, one of which is the highest Italian national award of merit by the government of the Republic of Italy in appreciation of her efforts in using art to address and solve the problems of Nigerian sex workers in Italy.
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| One of Nike's artworks |
Nike's painting is permanently featured at The Smithsonian Museum as of 2012, and her work is
also part of the collection of The Gallery of African Art and The British Library, in London.
A book was written about Nike by Kim Marie Vaz titled "The Woman with the Artistic Brush: A Life History of Yoruba Batik Artist, Nike Davies."
Chief Mrs Nike Davies-Okundaye is happily married with children.
