WAX
From February 5 to September 7, 2025
Exhibition
WAX
From February 5 to September 7, 2025
From past to present, stich by stitch, follow the colourful thread of wax at this exhibition!
The exhibition
Exposition WAX, œuvre de Thandiwe Muriu, MNHN 2025
© T. MuriuWax is an instantly recognizable textile that comes in a variety of brightly-coloured patterns. This fabric, generally seen as ‘African’, has stood the test of time and transcended borders. Over the past decade, its popularity in Western societies has soared. Whether in clothing, accessories or objects, wax is found increasingly in our homes and wardrobes. Yet few of us are aware of its unique history.
This 430 m² exhibition leaves no loose ends when it comes to this unique fabric tradition. It showcases a wide variety of fabrics, illustrating the wealth of designs, patterns and colours that characterise it.
Through the eyes of anthropologists, art historians, couturiers, designers and contemporary artists, it shows wax in all its finery, in two different areas of the museum: the Foyer Germaine Tillion and the Balcon des Sciences.
Weaving the history of wax
Wax is inspired by batik, a fabric of Indonesian origin that is dyed using a wax resist technique. Industrialised by Europeans, it first became popular in West Africa before spreading across the continent, carving out a place for itself in the world of African textiles. The exhibition traces the history of wax to reveal a textile with a hybrid identity.
It also highlights the key role played by women in the spread and popularity of this fabric, with a look, for example, at the saga of the Nana Benz. The first traders to distribute wax on the markets of Togo, these women made fortunes from the lucrative trade of the fabric in the 1960s.
While wax has become a commercial and industrial commodity on an international scale, it is nonetheless a textile with strong emotional connotations, accompanying individuals through the major moments of their lives for several generations.
A flagship fabric: wearing a message with wax
More than a fashion statement, wax can be a way for its wearer to get a message across, to show that he or she belongs to a given religious community, or is politically committed to a cause close to his or her heart.
For some Africans of the diaspora and other people of African descent, it is a veritable emblem, an expression of shared heritage and identity. Others, on the other hand, take issue with it, believing that it overshadows traditional fabrics and reflects a stereotyped image of Africa.
By presenting a diversity of historical and manufactured objects, deciphering the rich imagery of many different textiles, and showing how its history and identities resonate in contemporary artworks and pieces from the world of fashion, the exhibition shows wax to be an inexhaustible source of creation. It gives voice to artists and reflects the many ways in which wax has been viewed, from the amused to the quirky to the questioning.