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Inspired by his Xhosa heritage, Madoda Fani makes hand-coiled, burnished and smoke-fired pieces that are a contemporary evolution of the traditional ceramics indigenous to Southern Africa.
Madoda Fani makes hand-coiled, burnished and smoke-fired pieces that are a contemporary evolution of traditional Nguni ceramics. Born in 1975, he grew up in Gugulethu township, Cape Town and studied graphic design at Sivuyile College.
Fani credits South Africa’s lineage of traditional clay masters as seminal influences. He was schooled in smoke-firing techniques by Molelekoa Simon Masilo and Nic Sithole, while Jabu Nala – a member of the renowned Nala family of Zulu beer-pot makers – taught him to burnish clay with a stone.
Although he uses traditional techniques, Fani's curvaceous, coiled sculptures and hand-carved embellishments are entirely distinct. He works on a large scale, building organic-shaped forms whose smooth surfaces are punctuated by intricate, repetitive patterns lending them a scaled appearance. He has exhibited widely with Southern Guild, including a collaborative exhibition with Chuma Maweni, Idangatye, in 2017, and a solo presentation in 2021, iQweqwe (meaning “crust”), which saw his patterned incisions become an all-encompassing ‘skin’ inspired by insect exoskeletons.
Fani’s 2024 solo exhibition, Madoda: Let Us Know Praise Famous Men, marks a formal and conceptual turning point for the artist. Reimagining ubiquitous domestic objects in clay, this body of work deconstructs reductive cliches of Black masculinities, re-fashioning them with masterful skill and attention to craft in ambitious, sculptural shapes.
Over the course of his career, Fani has branched out into clay seating, timber furniture and bronze sculpture. He has participated in residency programmes in Argentina (2009), France (2013), Austria (2023) and Mexico (2023), and taught a summer workshop at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, US (2023). His work has been featured in Clay Formes, edited by Olivia Barrell (Art Formes, 2023) and Handbuilt Ceramics by Jo Taylor (The Crowood Press, 2021).
Fani was a finalist for the LOEWE Foundation Craft Prize in 2022 and received first prize at the 2016 Ceramics Southern Africa Exhibition, among others. He has work in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, and in the collections of the LOEWE Foundation and HRH Franz, Duke of Bavaria.
Madoda Fani
Imbewu, 2024Burnished, smoke-fired earthenware
31.88 x 23.25 x 8.25 in. | 81 x 59 x 21 cm
Madoda Fani
Masoka, 2024Burnished, smoke-fired earthenware
31.13 x 15.38 x 10.63 in. | 79 x 39 x 27 cm
Madoda Fani
Primus Stove, 2024Burnished, smoke-fired earthenware
30.25 x 20.25 x 20.25 in. | 77 x 51.5 x 51.5 cm
Madoda Fani
Mzwenkosi, 2024Burnished, smoke-fired earthenware
33.13 x 15.38 x 16.13 in. | 84 x 39 x 41 cm
Madoda Fani
Gugulethu, 2024Burnished, smoke-fired earthenware
30.75 x 19.25 x 15.75 in. | 78 x 49 x 40 cm
Madoda Fani
Gcobani, 2024Burnished, smoke-fired earthenware
30.25 x 20.5 x 15.75 in. | 77 x 52 x 40 cm
Madoda Fani
Cofimvaba, 2024Burnished, smoke-fired earthenware
31.88 x 20.13 x 20.13 in. | 81 x 51 x 51 cm
Madoda Fani
Unozala, 2024Burnished, smoke-fired earthenware
17.5 x 17.75 x 17.75 in. | 44.5 x 45 x 45 cm
Madoda Fani
Zisina Zidedelana, 2024Burnished, smoke-fired earthenware
29.13 x 16.5 x 16.5 in. | 74 x 42 x 42 cm
Madoda Fani and Chuma Maweni
Cape Town 2 Mar - 13 Mar 2017
Madoda Fani
Cape Town 22 Jul - 1 Oct 2021
Group show
Cape Town 27 Feb - 1 Apr 2015
Group show
Cape Town 24 Nov - 13 Mar 2017
Group show
Cape Town 19 Mar - 30 Jul 2023
Group show
Cape Town 8 Apr - 1 Jul 2016
Madoda Fani
Cape Town 6 Jun - 22 Aug 2024
Group show
Johannesburg 3 Aug - 8 Sept 2012