OZIOMA ONUZULIKE: Princeton University Art Museum

Ozioma Onuzulike is part of the exhibition “Clay Has Memory: Creative Lineages from Africa” presented at Princeton UNiversity Art Museum until July 3, 2027 and curated by Perrin Lathrop. 

A ceramic artist and poet, Onuzulike’s work largely focuses on the historical and sociological roots of the political and socio-economic turmoil in Africa and their debilitating effects on daily living on the continent. He often explores the aesthetic, symbolic and metaphorical nature of clay (his basic material) and the clay-working processes – pounding, crushing, hammering, wedging, grinding, cutting, pinching, punching, perforating, burning, firing – in his making of the multiple units that characterise his mixed-media projects. 

This exhibition examines the ways in which African and African Diasporic artists use clay to sustain creative legacies from Africa. The exhibition brings together works by historical, modern, and contemporary artists who draw on and preserve intergenerational knowledge through their practices. Referencing the long history of ceramics in Africa, these artists harness the potential of craft traditions and the vitality of clay to establish new relationships to place and shared histories.

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Exhibited artists:
Ozioma Onuzulike
El Anatsui
Magdalene Odundo
Ladi Dosei Kwali
Adebunmi Gbadebo
Theaster Gates
Zizipho Poswa
Leilah Babirye
Kwabena Ampofo-Anti
Etiyé Dimma Poulsen
Demas Nwoko
Jabulile Nala
Madoda Fani
Sana Musasama