Ladi Kwali is one of Nigeria’s most renowned potters, and her name will live on for generations to come. Ladi Kwali, a potter from a long line of potters, has engraved her name in gold as one of Nigeria’s greatest female potters and one of its greatest female heroes.
Ladi Kwali: Profile summary
Full name: Dr Hadiza Ladi Kwali
Date of birth: 1925.
Sibling: Mallam Mekaniki Kyebese
Occupation: Artist, Ceramist, Potter and was also a lecturer
In 1925, Ladi Kwali was born in Kwali, a small village in present-day Abuja dominated by the Gbagyi tribe (Gwari). Since then, the village has grown dramatically. Ladi was Gbagyi by tribe, but the tradition that shaped her work was more commonly known as Gwari by the people in the surrounding area. To honor her village, Ladi adopted the name Ladi Kwali and therefore became known as the Ladi Kwali.
In Ladi’s community, women’s pottery making was a common occupation, and she came from a long line of potters. A traditional procedure known as the Gwarin Yamma coiling and pinching method was taught to her as a child by her aunt. It was only a matter of time before Ladi Kwali started making different types of pots, such as the large water jars that were also used for cooking and watering plants and bowls.
Ladi Kwali
Even though her brother claimed that Ladi Kwali “excelled in the crafts, and her wares were often sold even before they were delivered to the markets” in the early years of pottery production, no formal schooling is recorded to have been received by Ladi Kwali when she was growing up.
A British colonial government official named Michael Cardew, who had been assigned to the Department of Commerce and Industry as a pottery officer in 1951, first saw Ladi’s work at the Abuja emir’s residence, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, and was so impressed that he made plans to meet her.
In April of 1952, Mr. Cardew opened a ceramics school in Abuja (now Suleja). Her training included wheel throwing, glazing, kiln firing, making saggars, and working with slip. Ladi became the first female potter to join the center in 1954. Ladi Kwali was promoted to instructor in a matter of weeks.
In addition to designing bowls, she was also skilled at sgraffito decoration. Pig quills from porcupines were used to pierce through the slip and into the vessel’s underlying body, allowing the ornamentation to be seen. She created pottery with Gbagyi meanings that were shown with personal idioms early in her professional career because of the cultural influences of her upbringing and the immediate surroundings she was working in at the time.
A mathematical undertone is reported to have been evident in her work because of her use of symmetrical finishing techniques. When Mr. Michael Cardew left the training center, four new female students had signed up for pottery lessons.
Ladi Kwali, despite having no formal education prior to joining the training center, was designated a resource person at the Abuja Pottery Training Centre; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State; and has displayed her abilities and ability in certain institutions in Europe and the United States.
Ladi Kwali: Achievements, Awards, Career and Legacy
Ladi Kwali has achieved so much during her life and, as a result, has received several awards. Amongst the many awards she received are; In 1977, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria awarded her an honorary doctorate degree. In 1980, the Nigerian Government received the highest national honour for academic achievement, the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award (NNOM). Ladi was awarded the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in 1981.
Ladi Kwali’s designs, including pots and others, have been featured in international exhibitions of Abuja pottery in 1958, 1959, and 1962, which the founder of the Abuja pottery training Center Mr Michael Cardew, organized. In 1961, she did a live demonstration at the Royal College, Farnham, and Wenford Bridge in Great Britain. In 1972, she toured America with Cardew.
Ladi Kwali has toured multiple countries in the West. Her works, such as Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, USA, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Aberystwyth University Ceramics Gallery, United Kingdom, can be seen worldwide.
Her work has equally shown great acclaim in London during Nigeria’s independence celebration in October 1960, and early in the ’50s, Ladi’s works were in an exhibition at the Berkeley Galleries, London.
In 1963, she was awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire, MBE. That same year, at the 10th International Exhibition for Ceramic Art at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, she received a Silver Award for Excellence.
The same year she received an honorary PhD from Ahmadu Bello University was the same year her picture was printed on the back of the Nigerian N20 Naira bill.
She has a major street named after her in Abuja and Niger state, in recognition of her services; the road is called Ladi Kwali Road.
One of the biggest convention centres in Abuja, located in the five-star hotel Sheraton holds acclaim for the Ladi Kwali Convention Center. In the early 1980s, the Abuja Pottery Training Centre was renamed The Ladi Kwali Pottery Centre.
Ladi Kwali: Death
Ladi Kwali died in Minna, Niger state, on 12th August 1984 from natural causes. She was buried there.
Ladi Kwali: Facts
1. She was the first female potter at the Abuja Pottery Training Centre
2. Kwali was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 1963
3. She was an apprentice to her aunt
4. Her artwork was exhibited at the Nigeria Independence day 1960
5. Her picture appears at the back of the Nigerian N20 Naira bill
6. She also received the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Niger(OON) in 1981
7. The Cardew Pottery in Abuja was renamed the Ladi Kwali Pottery, and a major street is called Ladi Kwali Road in Abuja
8. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria awarded her with an honorary doctorate
9. Her art was shown to great acclaim in London at the Berkeley Galleries
10. The Emir of Abuja acquired several arts of hers
11. Ladi was given the Silver Award of Excellence at the Tenth international Exhibition of Ceramics Arts, Washington D.C
12. A Sculpture of Ladi is been placed at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja.
13. She could not read or write but lectured her work at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
14. Her Artworks are well known is Britain, Europe and America
15. In 1980, the Nigerian Government invested in Kwali the insignia of the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award (NNOM), the highest national honour for academic achievement.