A conversation with an important African ceramicist about her creative work and the challenge of being a clay artist in Nigeria.
Ngozi Omeje is a ceramicist who teaches at the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She has been directly influenced by the work of El Anatsui. She has exhibited overseas in exhibitions such as the Cheongju Craft Biennale, but continues to live in Nsukka.
In our conversation, Ngozi discussed a particular method she uses to string ceramic shards from the ceiling to create larger forms. She sees this as a way to transcend the kiln’s size limits and deal with the regular threat of breakage that afflicts ceramics’ transport. The idea came to her when she watched people fishing.
The result is quite emotional. Ngozi talks about the sensation of hugging one of her ceiling works as if picking up a baby and it smiling back to you.
She describes the individual shards as like “leaves.” Each has been imprinted with the palm of her hand. The palm print resembles the veins on a leaf.
For Ngozi, there is no audience to sustain her work in Nigeria. But rather than constantly waiting to be recognised internationally, she decided to make work for the love of it. “It calms my spirit”.
Finally, she talks about the work of making traditional ceramic hives for bees that open up easily so that honey can be extracted without disturbing the colony.
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