IOTA24 - Madoda Fani
From Saturday 10 August 2024
To Sunday 27 October 2024
In 2024 the 2nd Indian Ocean Craft Triennial investigates the multi-various languages codified in contemporary craft. Visit the major international exhibition at six galleries, conference, and over 70 more exhibitions and events across Western Australia.
Bold and emblazoned with character, the ceramic work of Madoda Fani carries a dramatically unique sensibility. Inspired by his African heritage, Fani makes hand-coiled, burnished and smoke-fired pieces that are a contemporary evolution of the traditional ceramics indigenous to Southern Africa. Although he uses traditional techniques, Fani's curvaceous, coiled forms and hand-carved embellishments are entirely distinct. He works on a large scale, building organic-shaped vessels whose smooth surfaces are punctuated by intricate, repetitive patterns that give them a scaled, insect-like appearance. Learn more...
Madoda Fani
Born in 1975, Fani grew up in Gugulethu township in Cape Town, South Africa and studied graphic design at Sivuyile College. In 2000, his work was selected for the Salon Internationale de l’Artisanat de Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. There he met the ceramicist Simon Masilo, who introduced him to smoke-firing.
In 2009, he moved to Johannesburg and began to deepen his craft, guided by Masilo, and then at the Kim Sacks School of Ceramics. He learned how to burnish clay with a stone from Jabu Nala, the daughter of legendary Zulu beer-pot maker Nesta Nala, and mastered smoke-firing techniques under the guidance of Nic Sithole. He credits these artists for helping to mould him into the artist he is today.
