Transcultural Materiality in the Work of Magdalene Odundo
A Reflection on the 2023 Ivan Karp Workshop in Museum Anthropology, organized by the Council for Museum Anthropology
By Annissa Malvoisin, via Anthropology News, 12 September 2024
Spot-lit sweeping ceramic vases made by the artist Dame Magdalene Odundo were the centerpieces of the exhibition Magdalene Odundo: A Dialogue with Objects presented at the Gardiner Museum from October 2023 to April 2024. Organized by Sequoia Miller and Dame Odundo, the presentation was a transhistorical and transcultural journey through Odundo’s methodology and approach to making her matchless ceramic vessels. Carbonized and orange-ochre works produced throughout her career highlighted the gallery, while objects from around the world huddled around them, creating a pendulum of inspiration clearly reflected in Odundo’s work. This transcultural encounter formed the basis of the exhibition and of the learnings I received during the second annual Council for Museum Anthropology’s Ivan Karp Workshop in Museum Anthropology during the 2023 American Anthropological Association (AAA) Annual Meeting in Toronto.
Following the inaugural Ivan Karp Worksop in Museum Anthropology in 2022 in Seattle, I had the privilege of participating in the succeeding iteration: Clay, Ceramics, Curation. Magdalene Odundo: A Dialogue with Objects was a nucleus for the workshop, hosted with the Association of Black Anthropologists, to bring scholars and practitioners of varying disciplines to reflect upon collaborative curatorial approaches and storytelling through objects and materiality. The workshop was led by Senior Curator at the museum, Dr. Karine Tsoumis, and brought attendees on a material and visual journey through Odundo’s ceramic practice. Inspired by artistic and cultural outputs by communities in Africa, Europe, East Asia, and North America, Odundo’s cascading and gravity-defying vessels found grounding in multiple art forms—with inspiration from a Ladi Kwali stoneware jar to Greek Attic vases.
