Mud and Water Man - ACE039.4

Cardew talking to local people about a new building being constructed; photographs of the traditional-style buildings he worked in. His VO on the importance of buildings then being familiar to people who went to work there. Ladi Kwali throwing a pot in a wheel. Local man (and VO) describes how Cardew recruited her as the first of the women potters who worked with him. Women preparing a mixture of clay and grit which makes pots usable over wood fires. Woman building large pot from a lump of clay. Cardew’s VO talking about women’s role in pot-making: men use machinery while women use their hands. Pot being finished off, and decorated by incising patterns into the clay. Firing by pre-heating pots over embers, and then putting them into a brushwood fire. Cardew’s VO explains the technique. Coating the pot with makuba, a varnish made from locust-bean pods. Finished pots.