Viewing Revered ceramicist Dame Magdalene Odundo takes on the historic interiors of Houghton Hall

Dame Magdalene Odundo’s glittering thirty-year career has seen the ceramic artist become one of the most recognisable contemporary artists working with ceramics. Using traditional techniques to tell new stories about diasporic experiences, Odundo – who moved to the UK from Kenya in 1971 – has long engaged with a wide, intercultural range of influences and references, continuing to innovate within the ancient art form.

An expansive display of Odundo’s playful and poignant pieces, new and old, varying in scale and rich in expressions, will inhabit Houghton Hall’s grand, stately rooms this summer. Houghton Hall’s own political history – it was built for Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole – chimes with Odundo’s often politically-charged works, that are rooted in the shifting and challenging relationship we have with human bodies.

Look out for a new commission produced at the Wedgwood Factory, as well as Odundo’s spectacular installation of blown-glass vessels based on ancient Egyptian ear studs, Metamorphosis and Transformation (2011). Odundo’s works, brought into this opulent setting, propose a revelatory reimagining of the 18th century residence and its history, and position Odundo’s masterful oeuvre as an important landmark to match it.