Details
Terracotta. Thrown, coiled & carved .
H 25 cm, L 25 cm, W 12 cm
From the series 'Searching for Kouame Kakaha: A celebration of the unnamed women of clay; our shared mothers and grandmothers':
“Guided by my heritage of a love of beauty and a respect for strength — in search of my mother’s garden, I found my own”
Alice Walker, ‘In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens’
"This body of work represents the now. It is nothing more than who I am right now.
As a young woman, an artist, in search of my own voice and my place in a millennia-long lineage of women who have been working with clay. Women whose identity was shaped as the soil they stood on did in their hands."
"I found a home in the houses of women potters in Mexico and Morocco - in the way their bodies danced with the clay; in their smiles. In the vessels of Kouame Kakaha (Ivory Coast, ca. 1960 - known date) and Ladi Kwali, whom you all know very well by now. In the goddesses born in unknown Palaeolithic hands."
"Though disconnected geographically and temporally, these women have shaped our past and influenced our present. If I want to know who I am, I need to know about them, immerse myself in the stories that the silhouettes of their vessels tell."
"So this is where I am at."
"Vessels and sculptures evoking the whispers I have heard. Figurines, traces, fingerprints. Endless curiosity. The unknown, the many different perspectives. Wanting to feel grounded by uprooting and rerooting. Heart wide open."
"One stop of a life-long journey. In searching I will find. This is the now for now."
Bisila Noha 2022
About the Artist
Bisila Noha is a Spanish London-based ceramic artist. Her work draws from influences and explorations of her Spanish and Equatorial Guinean heritage. With her work, Bisila aims to challenge Western views on art and craft; to question what we understand as productive and worthy in capitalist societies; and to reflect upon the idea of home and oneness pulling from personal experiences in different pottery communities.
Her practice extends from wheel-thrown pieces with the distinctive addition of marbled slip decoration to create eye-catching abstract landscapes; to sculptural pieces mixing throwing, coiling and carving which connect her to her roots, the makers that precede her and our past.
Her work has been featured in many publications including the Financial Times and the New York Times. Notable exhibitions include the Crafts Council’s exhibition ‘Maker’s Eye’ in 2021 and the landmark exhibition ‘Body Vessel Clay’ at Two Temple Place - presenting the work of Ladi Kwali, Magdalene Odundo and Bisila Noha, three generations of Black women artists working with clay, to 'celebrate surprising new ways of exploring one of the world’s oldest artform.'
In 2022, two of Bisila's sculptures were acquired from Thrown by the V&A for their permanent collection.
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International delivery available within 14 days.
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