The first solo exhibition of Magdalene Odundo in Africa will take place in Kenya from March – July 2005, to coincide with the UK’s cultural festival ‘Africa 2005’. Born in Kenya, Odundo has lived in Britain for the past thirty years and her extraordinary black and red vessels – as poised and statuesque as figures – have earned her a place as one of the most gifted potters working in Britain today.

After training at the Royal College of Art in London, Odundo spent time in the ceramic workshops established by Neville Cardew in Abuja, Nigeria. She was fascinated not only by the way in which a lustrous black surface was created by African potters, but by their taut, full-bodied shapes. She also recognised what it took to innovate in order to create something new:

‘I realised what a rich cultural heritage I have. In Nigeria, I learned to look and listen. By listening to people who made art, they made it apparent that ambition wasn’t enough to make you a potter. Patience was the vital ingredient, you had to learn to observe, to participate, whether in pot-making, carving or weaving. The act of knowing wasn’t just thinking, it was a totality. It was more than apprenticeship, it was a form of engagement and adoption.’

Odundo’s experimentation with traditional techniques has led to a unique body of work, unrecognisable as simply African, Western, or Asian. Built up in coils and fired at extreme temperatures for the right degree of burnish or smoothness, her vessels are memorable distillations, somehow reminiscent of forms we are familiar with but at the same time find strange and new.

The exhibition in Kenya will present a series of new vessels made specifically for the exhibition. A fully illustrated leaflet, with a text by Gus Casely-Hayford will be printed to accompany the exhibition (no ISBN number), which will be on show at the new British Council East African Headquarters, Nairobi