In this essay for MoMa's post: notes on art in a global context, I examine the enduring legacy of Ladi Dosei Kwali (1925–1984), tracing her influential oeuvre at the intersection of Nigerian pottery and British studio ceramics between the 1950s and 1970s. This cross-cultural connection offers critical insight into the asymmetrical power relations that shaped the entangled histories of African and Western ceramic practices during the late colonial and early postcolonial periods. The text builds on my ongoing research into Kwali’s practice and broader African matrilineal ceramic traditions—research I previously explored through the exhibition Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics and Contemporary Art, presented at Two Temple Place (24 January–24 April 2022) and York Art Gallery (24 June–18 September 2022).
The exhibition re-evaluated Kwali’s collaboration with British studio potter Michael Cardew (1901–1983), situating it within the context of a colonial ceramics project that reflected—and at times reinforced—unequal power structures between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

post: notes on art in a global context is The Museum of Modern Art’s online resource devoted to art and the history of modernism in a global context. It is the public face of Contemporary and Modern Art Perspectives (C-MAP), a cross-departmental, internal research program at MoMA that fosters the multiyear study of art histories outside North America and Western Europe. The Museum of Modern Art’s Contemporary and Modern Art Perspectives (C-MAP) research program is supported by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.