Artists

The people we sit with

Everyone we have filmed, wherever they work. Open a name to see everything made about them.

Aline Uwase

Kigali, RwandaBasketry

Weaves tight-coiled baskets. Counts every knot aloud as she works.

2 films2 series6 essays

Amara Okafor

Enugu, NigeriaCeramics

Builds and fires large vessels by hand. Digs her own clay from a river bend two hours from the workshop.

2 films2 series6 essays

Ana Beatriz Costa

Salvador, BrazilPainting

Grinds her own pigment from stone and paints on prepared board.

1 films1 series3 essays

Fatou Ndiaye

Saint-Louis, SenegalDyeing, Weaving

Dyes and weaves in indigo. Keeps four vats going at once, each at a different age.

2 films2 series6 essays

Josiah Mwangi

Nairobi, KenyaSculpture, Woodcarving

Carves large figures direct from the log, working without a maquette.

1 films1 series3 essays

Kwame Mensah

Kumasi, GhanaWoodcarving

Carves stools and figures from single blocks, without a drawing.

2 films2 series6 essays

Lucía Ramírez

Oaxaca, MexicoCeramics

Throws and burnishes blackware taught to her by her father.

1 films1 series3 essays

Mira Sato

Tokushima, JapanDyeing

Ferments and dyes with natural indigo, burying the cloth twice.

1 films1 series3 essays

Nadia Benali

Fès, MoroccoMetalwork, Leatherwork

Works leather and silver in the same room, finishing each piece before the next begins.

2 films2 series6 essays

Rania Haddad

Cairo, EgyptGlass

Blows and slumps glass from local sand, in a workshop she rebuilt herself.

1 films1 series3 essays

Rekha Iyer

Jaipur, IndiaCeramics, Glass

Fires ceramics and glass in a kiln older than she is.

1 films1 series3 essays

Salif Traoré

Ségou, MaliDyeing, Weaving

Paints mud cloth with patterns that are read as sentences.

1 films1 series3 essays

Thandiwe Ncube

Bulawayo, ZimbabweBeadwork

Runs the last bead shop on her street, and still strings by hand.

1 films1 series3 essays

Tọlá Adéyẹmí

Ìbàdàn, NigeriaWeaving

Weaves aṣọ òkè on a loom that came from her mother. Works alone, from before first light until the middle of the afternoon.

2 films2 series6 essays

Yohannes Bekele

Addis Ababa, EthiopiaMetalwork

Casts and raises brass and copper using moulds his father cut.

2 films2 series6 essays

Zanele Mokoena

Johannesburg, South AfricaPrintmaking

Cuts and prints lino and woodblock. Prints an edition in one sitting or not at all.

2 films2 series6 essays