Lagos residents who recognise Ladi Kwali from Nigeria’s twenty-naira note will have a chance to encounter her pottery through film and conversation this weekend. In a visitor update published on 3 November, the ART X Lagos team set out plans for a Saturday afternoon programme on the artist at the Federal Palace on Victoria Island.
The fair’s schedule sets aside 4.30pm to 6pm on Saturday, 7 November, for the event. First comes a half-hour documentary directed by curator Jareh Das. The discussion that follows is due to bring Das together with artist Isis Dove-Edwin. The screening and talk form part of the fair’s public programme.
A pot in the York Art Gallery collection gives a sense of what looking closely at Kwali’s work can reveal. The pot was built by hand. Its surface carries a pattern cut into the clay and inlaid with red slip, a liquid clay mixture. A transparent glaze allows the decoration to show through. This is an example from the English collection, not a confirmed loan to Lagos.
The exhibition in Lagos is called Ladi Kwali: Beyond the Vessel. Alongside Kwali’s work, the organisers’ plans include pieces by women potters who worked alongside her or came after her. The wider story is about how makers learned from one another and what individual artists changed within that tradition.
Sunday’s masterclass follows a different arrangement. The fair describes a private session for its selected artists on 8 November, including a curator-led visit to the exhibition. The session explores ways of developing an artistic practice. Participants do not need to work in clay, and the programme does not offer hands-on pottery instruction that day.
What it means for you. Public visitors can plan around the fair’s ticketed weekend on 7 and 8 November. Thursday’s collector preview and Friday’s VIP preview require invitations. If you want to hear the discussion about Kwali, check Saturday’s talk listing when choosing your visit.