Pot by Lami Toto: 1960's
Culture: Gwari
Country: Nigeria
Glazed Ceramic
This glazed wheel thrown water pot, based on the form of
a hand-built
Gwari pot, was made in a modern pottery at Abuja, Nigeria started
by the British potter, Micheal Cardew.
In most areas of Africa, males practice arts different from those practiced
by females. When they do engage in the same art, they usually employ different
techniques. For example, in southern Nigeria, both men and women weave,
but men use a narrow, horizontal loom to produce cloth strips while the
women use a broad, vertical loom. Women have, traditionally, been prohibited
form wood carving and metallurgy in certain areas, but such rules usually
vary form culture to culture. In most cases, women practice pottery, but
there are always exceptions; such as within the Hausa culture of Nigeria,
where men are potters. Some cultures require, within the production process,
a separation of male and female artists, as well as short periods of sexual
abstinence before and during the actual fabrication of the objects. Currently,
in some areas, gender roles within the arts must occasionally be altered
in order to increase earning capacities and meet the demands of the tourist
trade.