Kenyan and British, born in 1950 in Nairobi
Lives and works in Surrey, United Kingdom

Magdalene Odundo spent her early years in Africa and India before moving to England to study graphic design and eventually ceramics at the West Surrey College of Art and Design, and later at the Royal College of Art in London.

In the 1970s, Odundo spent time in Africa, exchanging ideas and learning traditional techniques from local potters in Nigeria and Kenya. Later, she had a formative encounter with Native American potter Maria Martinez from New Mexico, whose famed blackware firing and decorating techniques had a strong impact on Odundo's design.

Balancing between two continents, Odundo epitomizes African art while embracing her education in England, where she continues her production. Sculptural and solemn, Odundo's ceramics feature bellies, navels, ears, small arms, and thoraxes, large mouths, and thin lips. Her subtly anthropomorphic vessels embody notions of gender and nationality, while the unpredictability of the firing process gives them a skin that ranges from bright orange to matte black, with all the shades in between.

Odundo's works are owned by more than forty museums worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, as well as the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.