London-based ceramic artist Bisila Noha’s two current exhibitions both showcase works from her Baney Clay project. The evolving, ongoing project began in 2020, and so far counts four iterations, and a total of 53 pieces, each made with various mixes of Baney Clay – the name the artist gives to the clay foraged and brought back to her studio from her family’s land in the Equatorial Guinean village of Baney, her paternal ancestral home. Also employing stoneware and porcelain, each of the sublime, incredibly sensual vessels, some evoking female bodies, that together form this immense project operates simultaneously on several levels, as Noha explains.

“There’s the political side, as I challenge how women’s labour has been perceived, studied and document throughout history, specially in the case of pottery. There’s the more technical ceramics side to it too – exploring how the clays interact once fired depending on the mixes.” The project also have a personal, emotional aspect “it has been key in my own identity journey, embracing my blackness and my African roots.” While the clay directly represents the artist’s connection to the earth of Equatorial Guinea, the forms and techniques forge a line with her heritage, with the long-practiced traditions of pottery in Equatorial Guinea, and across Central Africa.

Other collections inspired by this body of work that have followed in recent years have been acquired by the V&A Museum amongst many others both in the UK and the USA, and exhibited across Europe. But now the clay has returned there, in two concurrent exhibitions taking place at the Spanish Cultural Centres in the cities of Bata and Malabo. Noha reflects: “being able to exhibit some of these pieces in Equatorial Guinea at the moment feels like a full-circle moment, a huge achievement and an incredible opportunity to connect with the country and its women.”