Across African societies, the shield has never been merely a weapon of war. It is an object of identity, sacrament, and aesthetics—often decorated with patterns, colours, and materials that reflect lineage, belief, and communal values. In transforming ceramic palm kernel shell beads, chain-mail structures, and lace-imprinted buttons into shield-like forms, The Shield Series revalues the shield as a modern metaphor for survival in a fractured world.
Made in the ceramics studio rather than on the battlefield, these shields do not promise invincibility. Instead, they speak of psychological, cultural, and ethical defence. The fragile strength of fired clay—durable yet breakable—mirrors the condition of modern societies, where resilience is constantly tested by political instability, environmental crisis, inequality, and cultural erasure. Copper wire binds the ceramic fragments together, echoing the social bonds that hold communities intact under pressure.
The materials themselves hold layered histories. Palm kernel shells and glass evoke trade, labour, and extraction; chain-mail forms suggest both protection and bondage; lace-imprinted buttons reference prestige, adaptation, and inherited aesthetics. As shields, these elements imply that protection today is no longer solely physical — it involves safeguarding memory, dignity, and truth.
Globally, The Shield Series reflects current issues of protest, migration, gendered violence, and the fight for voice under authoritarian regimes. Like the artist's earlier ceramic garments and armour, these shields blur the line between beauty and protection. They pose: What do we defend? Who is guarded? And at what expense?
In these works, adornment becomes a form of resistance, craft serves as testimony, and the shield is a space where history, vulnerability, and hope intersect.
