When the Gods Speak, Heaven Listens

Description

Frederick Ebenezer Okai, an artist based in Ghana, makes large-scale ceramic pieces that are fired in custom, handmade, individual kilns. Okai relishes pushing himself and his chosen medium to their very limits. Each kiln is built around the sculpture, and needs to be dismantled brick-by-brick after firing, so it is common for the bricks to fall inwards and destroy the newly fired pot, in which case, Okai has to start all over again.

Building individual kilns for each of his works is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, it also cannot be done in isolation. As a member of the artists collective blaxTARLINES, Okai calls upon friends and colleagues to help him create, conceptualize and hone his practice. When kilns need to be built, exhibitions need to be curated, or artistic processes need to be documented, blaxTARLINES activates its network and brings together the hands necessary to uplift the work of one of its members.