Google celebrates Ladi Kwali, the icon on Nigeria’s ₦20 note

Today’s doodle on Google.com is in honour of the life and work of Nigeria’s Ladi Kwali, known for her intricately adorned earthenware works. As published by Google in a blog post, “On this day in 2017, an exhibition of Ladi Kwali’s work at the Skoto Gallery in New York opened.” A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google’s homepage intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures of particular countries.

Ladi Kwali grew up in the village of Kwali in the Gwari region of Northern Nigeria, where women made pottery. Her aunt taught her how to coil pottery as a child. She fashioned big clay pots, bowls, and flasks from clay coils hammered inside with a flat wooden paddle. Many of them had geometric and figurative etched motifs, such as scorpions and birds and fish. Her pots were admired for their form and ornamentation, and she was a well-known potter in the neighbourhood. Several were acquired by Abuja’s Emir, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, whose residence Michael Cardew visited in 1950.

In 1954, Kwali joined the Abuja Pottery Center, where she made history as the first Nigerian woman to train in advanced pottery techniques. She fused her traditional style with these innovative methods to craft a hybrid collection of pottery stylized with a zoomorphic illustration. Kwali continued to break the mould into the 60s with exhibitions across Europe and the Americas, achieving international acclaim.   

Awards and Achievements

1. In 1954, Kwali’s pots were featured in the international exhibition of Abuja pottery organized by Michael Cardew.
2. Kwali was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 1963.
3. In 1977, she was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.
4. In 1980, the Nigerian government (from the Cabinet Office of the Federal Republic of Nigeria) invested her with the insignia of the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award (NNOM), the highest national honor for academic achievement.
5. She also received the national honor of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in 1981.
6. Her picture appears at the back of the Nigerian N20 Naira bill.
7. A major street in Abuja is called Ladi Kwali Road.
8. The Sheraton Hotel houses the Ladi Kwali Convention Center, which is one of the largest conference facilities in Abuja, consisting of ten meeting rooms and four ballrooms.
9. Her works are held in collections all around the world, such as the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, USA, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Aberystwyth University Ceramics Gallery, UK.
10. The 2022 exhibition at Two Temple Place Body Vessel Clay, Black Women, Ceramics & Contemporary Art included Kwali as the starting point for charting 70 years of ceramics by black women artists.

In addition to her achievements, the Google Doodle for March 16, 2022, is in honour of Ladi Kwali. This commemorates the exhibition of Kwali’s work at the Skoto Gallery in New York, on March 16, 2017.

“Here’s to you, Ladi Kwali! Thanks for putting your unique spin on a traditional craft and sculpting a place for future generations of women artisans,” the Tech Giant writes.