What are the Works of Ladi Kwali? What was Ladi Kwali Known For?

Dr Hadiza Ladi Kwali was a well-known and prolific potter in Nigeria, as well as the woman on the reverse of the twenty-naira note. Ladi Kwali was born in 1925 in the little town of Kwali, which is now part of Abuja.

Ladi Kwali, a Nigerian educator, ceramicist, glassworker, and potter, is best renowned for her beautifully adorned earthenware designs, which helped educate the international community on the beauty of Nigerian art. Ladi Kwali’s work was on display at the Skoto Gallery in New York on this day in 2017. some of her works include water jars, cooking pots, bowls, and flasks from coils of clay etc

Some historians claim she was born in the year 1920. Her given name “Ladi” means “born on Sunday,” and her surname “Kwali” refers to the village where she was born. She was born into a pottery-making family. She learned the skill of pottery from her aunt as a child, utilizing the coiling and pinching process.

She worked in London, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States after graduating from the Abuja Pottery Training Center. She merged indigenous Gwari skills with wheel throwing and glazing techniques from the West. Her pottery changed the look of modern pottery around the world while still using the traditional open firing method with herbal glazes.