NORWICH, United Kingdom––Kenyan-born British studio potter Madgalene Odundo’s The Journey of Things (August 3 – December 15, 2019) at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts brought together more than 50 of the artist’s vessels alongside a vast selection of historic and contemporary ceramics, photographs, paintings, textiles and sculptures from around the globe. The range references the work from which Odundo derived her own.
The exhibition, designed by British architect David Adjaye in partnership with The Hepworth Wakefield, features distinctive round island-like plinths arranged throughout the six interconnected spaces housing the exhibition. Adajya tells Dezeen, his firm drew inspiration for the arrangement from an arhcipelago.
“Although scattered there is still an inherent grouping, a family of plinths that allow the visitor the opportunity to weave in-between and explore the exhibition.
The plinths take on this natural irregularity both in shape and position and using a tonal variation of subtle hues of warm to cool grey helps to complete this natural, geological concept.
We wanted to let the surrounding space drop away and bring the focus to the plinths and their pieces.”
Dezeen
Their pieces are Odundo’s signature black and burnt orange vessels––with their distended bellies and long, languid necks along with objects which have informed those works. Their presentation is intended to strike a balance between the various works and their context in Odundo’s journey and evolution as an artist–-aptly capture in the exhibition title.
The exhibition also features Odundo’s mesmeric suspended glass work Transition II, created during a 2014 residency at the National Glass Centre in collaboration with glassblower James Maskrey.
Explore more of Odundo’s work on Cfile.org
Absolutely wonderful! Loved the video. I have followed this lady’s work from the 1980s when she started appearing in the British Ceramic magazine. Thank you for bringing me up to date!