Black History Month talk by Shawanda Corbett

Shawanda Corbett (MFA, 2016) is a ceramic and performance artist whose bodily and architectural ceramics communicate different perspectives across cultures, eras, and geographies and interrogate the idea of a ‘complete body’. Her latest work, ‘A Healing is Coming’, is part of the British Pavillion’s ‘Dancing Before the Moon’ exhibition currently being featured at the 2023 Venice Biennale.

Shawanda’s art is inspired by her childhood memories which are rooted in her experiences as a Black woman, with a differently abled body, growing up in the American South. Her expansive practice combines ceramics, paintings and performance to question the idea of the ‘complete’ body. Each of her hand-thrown ceramic vessels are inspired by real people and are frequently incorporated into politically charged performances in which Corbett’s own body leaves traces on the pottery vessels and surfaces.