African heritage in smoke-fired ceramics
- Madoda hand-coils large-scale ceramics in his Cape Town studio
- He carves rhythmic patterns in burnished, smoke-fired pieces
- His art seeks to preserve African and Xhosa culture
Madoda Fani draws on his Xhosa heritage to create modern ceramics through ancestral techniques. As a child, he was chosen to paint a mural in Gugulethu, his township. “It stayed there for years, and I kept seeing it as I grew up. That triggered something in me,” Madoda explains. He discovered ceramics while studying graphic design, and in 1999, a tea set he made won second prize at a competition in Burkina Faso. There, Madoda met Simon Masilo, who introduced him to smoke-firing. He later won first prize at the Ceramics Southern Africa Exhibition in 2006. Madoda achieves his signature style using stone burnishing, vegetable oil and smoke-firing with newspaper. He has taken part in national and international exhibitions. He also shares his craft through workshops he holds in South Africa, Australia and Mexico.
Interview
- What advice would you give aspiring ceramicists?
- Ceramics require a lot of patience. For about two years, my work would come out of the kiln in pieces. But, looking back, the process of fixing and rebuilding fast-tracked my development.
- What do you enjoy about teaching others?
- Working with former inmates has been a highlight for me, because I have seen the change in them. Some even started teaching and were granted art residencies. They would still come to my workshops, even if they were struggling, because they saw the possibilities that ceramics can offer them.
- How do you use pit-firing as a modern artist?
- Traditionally, pots were fired using cow dung and wood that would burn for two or three days. I cannot do that in an urban area, so I burn newspapers in the pit fire, as they burn fast and I can achieve the texture I want in half an hour.
- Which achievements stand out in your journey?
- In 1999, I won second prize at the SIAO Art Festival in Burkina Faso, which was a turning point for me. It prompted me to leave graphic design and pursue ceramics as a life-long practice.
Madoda Fani is a master artisan: he began his career in 1999 and he started teaching in 2007
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Madoda Fani
