Body Vessel Clay

“The exhibition offered a beacon of hope.” Darren Appiagyei in the Guardian

“a revelatory show” ****Evening Standard

“will leave you enriched” The Voice

Our 10th annual exhibition showcased the ceramic medium through artworks by three generations of Black women artists working in clay.

Body Vessel Clay spanned 70 years of ceramics, celebrating the medium in new and surprising ways. Beginning with the seminal Nigerian potter, Ladi Kwali, and examining her interaction with 1950s British Studio Pottery, this important exhibition brought together a rich history with experimental new works by Black women working with clay today.

Through Kwali and her female contemporaries, this new perspective on one of the world’s oldest artforms reinterpreted the line of Kwali’s influence and its resonance on a younger generation of international contemporary women artists working with clay in radical new ways.  Artists celebrated in the exhibition included Magdalene Odundo DBE, who worked with Kwali, through Bisila Noha, looking both backwards and forwards, and into a striking contemporary display from Phoebe Collings-James, Shawanda Corbett, Chinasa Vivian Ezhuga, Jade Montserrat and Julia Phillips.

Body Vessel Clay was accompanied by a busy programme of talks, events, late night openings and craft workshops – check out What’s On to view a number of the recorded talks and see what is coming up later this year at Two Temple Place.

The exhibition was curated by independent curator, researcher and writer Dr Jareh Das.

Body Vessel Clay toured to York Art Gallery, 24 June-18 September 2022.