Andile Dyalvane

Andile Dyalvane is one of Africa’s foremost ceramic artists. Guided by a deep spiritual connection to his Xhosa ancestors, his complex, large-scale ceramic artworks are a metaphorical vessel through which he seeks to honour his cultural traditions and share his journey of healing.

Born in 1978 in the small village of Ngobozana, near Qobo-Qobo in the rural Eastern Cape province of South Africa, Dyalvane grew up farming and looking after his father’s cattle herd – sewing a deep connection to the land and his Xhosa culture that resonates powerfully through his work today. His medium of clay or “umhlaba” (mother earth) is, at its most fundamental, a life-affirming connection to the soil. But by providing a medium for storytelling, it is also an essential energetic link to his past, present and future.

Dyalvane completed a National Diploma in Art and Design at Sivuyile Technical College in Gugulethu, Cape Town, followed by a National Diploma in Ceramic Design from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2003. In 2005, he and Zizipho Poswa co-founded Imiso Ceramics, whose handmade tableware and vessels have earned the studio an international following. Through his functional designs for Imiso, he developed a language of incision marks inspired by the African tradition of body scarification that continues to inform his work today.

Dyalvane’s ouevre for Southern Guild serves as a distinct, but aligned, space from which to explore more complex ideas in greater depth with a focus on sculptural and monumental qualities. He made his international solo debut with Camagu, a ground-breaking collection of over-scaled ceramic vessels, lighting and furniture at New York gallery Friedman Benda in 2016. The exhibition’s title is a Xhosa term expressing gratitude, spoken in particular when acknowledging one’s ancestors, and it has become a much-used mantra for the artist.

Idladla (Grain Silo), exhibited at Southern Guild in Cape Town in 2017, pivots around the central role that maize cultivation plays in rural African life: no homestead is considered complete without a structure to store grain. The cyclical, life-sustaining practices of land cultivation are an embodiment of collective effort and restorative spirituality. Idladla is also part of an ongoing and much broader project for Dyalvane: the preservation of his language, identity, and cultural traditions.

iThongo (Ancestral Dreamscape), an extensive series of sculptural ceramic seating, premiered in the artist’s rural community before being exhibited at Southern Guild in Cape Town (2020) and Friedman Benda in New York (2021). The collection – whose title refers to the medium through which the ancestors’ messages are transmitted – is based on an extensive vocabulary of glyphs the artist designed to denote important concepts in Xhosa life. Dyalvane's fourth solo exhibition at Friedman Benda, OoNomathotholo: Ancestral Whispers (2024), features a series of lacerated vessels embodying a history of familial and communal grief while offering a perspective of harmony and rejuvenation.

Dyalvane’s work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pérez Museum, Denver Art Museum, Design Museum Gent, Vitra Design Museum, New Taipei City Yingge Ceramic Museum, Iziko South African National Gallery, NMMU Art Museum in Port Elizabeth, and the Corobrik Ceramics Collection.

The artist has exhibited at museums all over the world, including the National Art Museum of China, Seoul Museum of Craft Art, Vitra Design Museum and Iziko South African National Gallery. He has taken part in number of biennales including the inaugural Indian Ocean Triennial in Perth, New Taipei City Yingge Ceramic Museum Biennale, Tel Aviv Biennale of Crafts and Design, and Jinju Traditional Crafts Biennale.

Book publications include Clay Formes edited by Olivia Barrell (Art Formes, 2023), Africanfuturism: African Imaginings of other Times, Spaces, and Worlds by Kimberly Cleveland (Ohio University Press, 2024) and Ubunzululwazi Lwabaphantsi (Ancestral Wisdom) (Almas Art Foundation, 2024).

Southern Guild has presented Dyalvane’s work at fairs including Expo Chicago, Design Miami, Design Miami/ Basel, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, The Salon Art + Design, among others. A member of the International Academy of Ceramics, he is frequently invited to share his knowledge through master classes and workshops around the world and has earned residencies at prestigious institutions, including Leach Pottery in the UK and the Academy of Ceramics Gmunden in Austria.

He is the recipient of multiple recognitions, including the 2015 Design Foundation Icon Award and a Special Mention as a finalist in the 2022 LOEWE Foundation Craft Prize.