I make a late entry to a career as an artist. I started out in a different profession, then spent time at home with my four young children. Along the way, I developed a passion for clay, particularly the ceramic language of materiality, process, and form. I am fascinated by its documentary power – everyday life, events and ideas can be captured in clay objects, which can be shared in their time through gift, exchange, or exhibition, as well as into the future as kept or found archaeological objects.
There are two main strands to my work. In my primary practice, 'the ethnographic objects - a subject of decolonial making', I explore the diaspora of objects starting with the 'traditional' domestic coiled terracotta pot from West Africa. These pots, communally made by women, travelled to colonial museums where they were decontextualised and classified as ethnographic objects to highlight otherness. Drawing on craft and historical narratives, my intention has been to disrupt and activate form and surface, as a means of storytelling and embodied practice.
I also have a creative collaborative practice as 2nd Shift with Leonora Lockhart, researching and responding to the impact of being an artist-mother.
I am based in London where I gained a First Class BA (Hons) degree in Ceramic Design at Central St Martins in 2021, before studying at the Royal College of Art.
CV
Education
2023 MA Ceramics & Glass, Royal College of Art
RJ Washington Bursary Award
Dissertation: the ethnographic object - a subject of decolonial writing (distinction)
2021 BA (Hons) Ceramic Design (First Class)
Solo Exhibitions
2024 Crossing Continents TAFETA Gallery, Charlotte Street, London
Group Exhibitions
2024 Porcelain of China, Azure of the Sky, JUVA, Jingdezhen, China
1-54, Somerset House, London
2nd Shift in Residence at RuptureXIBIT, Hampton Wick
Empower HER: Creativity, Courage & Magical Thinking CasildART Contemporary, Connaught St, London
2023 Now Now, TAFETA Gallery, Charlotte Street, London
SHOW Royal College of Art, Truman Brewery, London
London Craft Week Open Studios
NYCxDesign Festival, New York
Fermenting, Fitzarts Advisory, London
2022 Preface, Pumphouse Gallery, London
Art in the time of Corona, Volume 3. Dab Art Co Los Angeles (online)
2021 Circle, Pollen Collective, Great Russell Street, London
Unmute @Bargehouse, Oxo Tower, London
Here, I made this: dialogues of distance, Pollen Collective ,One Paved Court, Richmond on Thames
2020 Absence: Presence, National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas
Awards & Nominations
2023 Young Masters Cockpit Arts Award
Shortlisted Maylis Grand Young Masters Ceramics Prize
Olymp'arts Runner Up Royal College of Arts Ceramics & Jewellery
2021 WantedDesign Online International Schools Show - winner, Social Impact Award
WantedDesign Online International Schools Show - Emerging Designer Showcase
Nominated MullenLowe NOVA Award
Shortlisted Arts Thread Global Design Graduate Show
Workshops
2021 Body Vessel Clay, Two Temple Place, London
In Publication
2023 Ceramic Review p10 Jan-Feb
Emerging Potters #31 and #33
Surface Decoration for Ceramics: A Creative Guide for the Contemporary Maker,
Claire Ireland , The Crowood Press.
2020 Crafts No.285 ReMaking the Monument p.54