How potter Ladi Kwali’s legacy travelled the globe

When I was a teenager growing up in Nigeria, the famous potter Ladi Kwali (1925-1984) was often mentioned in the schoolroom, but I knew little about her. It was when I moved to England that I became fascinated with her. While working at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), I discovered ceramics by British studio potters including Michael Cardew, who led me to learn about the Abuja Pottery Training Centre in central Nigeria. Cardew was employed by the British colonial government to set up this pottery to cater for an emerging Nigerian middle class; Kwali joined in 1954 as its first female potter, initially as a student and then a teacher. 

This was a feat in itself as the centre was meant to be a male-run enterprise. While craft practices are largely female-led, in this area and Nigeria as a whole, the idea was that female artisans would teach men their craft – and increase production.

While doing research for MIMA, which has a large collection of studio pottery, I read about Kwali’s water jars – beautifully proportioned, big-bellied pots decorated with scar-like incisions often depicting birds, insects, lizards and geometric shapes. These vessels would originally have been used for the storage of water or grains, but new materials and firing techniques transformed them from functional to decorative objects. They have moved from a world in which they would have been used daily, to being designed purely for display.

Kwali combined the skills she learned at Abuja – throwing, kiln-firing and more – with coiling techniques from her native Gwari region. I’m inspired by the way she straddled the Nigerian and the British studio pottery contexts, moving from the matrilineal traditions of her ethnic group to a hybrid approach. There’s something compelling about this transition between cultures. She handled it with such grace, versatility and style. 

The more research I did, the more I realised how central Kwali was to the ceramics scene of her time. An older generation knows and respects her work, but younger people aren’t engaged with that history. In Nigeria, you will find the famous military leader Murtala Muhammed on the front of the 20 Naira note, and on the back there’s Ladi Kwali throwing at her wheel. But thanks to inflation, people are more used to spending thousands of Naira – it’s rare that people handle small currency like that. Today, people don’t know her as they once did.

During her career she travelled across Europe and the United States, demonstrating her skills and versatility, all without speaking English. She took a historic art form out of the context where it existed, and now it has global influence. Her hybrid pots and water jars can now be seen as radical objects – dense, heavy, decorative objects that traverse time periods, techniques, cultures and worlds. And they have now entered museums – highlighting the importance of Black women in the history of non-Western pottery making.

The central aim of my show Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics & Contemporary Art (which showed in April 2022 at London’s Two Temple Place and York Art Gallery in June 2022) was to demystify Kwali for those who know her, introduce her to a new audience, and explore Gwari making traditions – while placing her in the context of three generations of Black women working with clay. 

Her tableware and vessels sat beside pieces by Magdalene Odundo, who she taught in the 1970s, and work by a new generation of artists. I want to highlight the importance of Black women to the history of pottery. 

This is an extended version of an article that first appeared in the March/April 2022 issue of Crafts magazine (#293). You can explore our entire archive by becoming a Crafts member