In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Noha and the second or maternal family name is Pascual.

Bisila Noha Pascual (born April 1988) is a Spanish ceramic and mixed materials artist and activist. Based in London, England, Noha's artwork aims to challenge Western art perspectives and advance feminist and anti-capitalist perspectives. She also holds Equatoguinean citizenship.

Biography

Noha was born in 1988 and grew up in Zaragoza, Spain.[2][3] Her mother was from Noviercas, Soria and her father was from the Bubi people in Baney, Equatorial Guinea.[4][5][6]

She moved to Madrid for university, graduating with an undergraduate degree in translation and a master's degree[where?] in international relations.[7] After graduation, her professional career brought her to Madrid, Leipzig, Vienna, San Francisco.[5] In 2013, Noha moved to London, United Kingdom to pursue an opportunity at an advertising agency.[8]

Art career

After moving to London, Noha began taking pottery classes and crafting her first pottery pieces. Without a background in the arts, she was largely self-taught, designing pottery to relax after work. Her initial designs focused on crafting practical clay tableware. Noha's technique developed to craft works combining storytelling to "blur the boundaries" between sculpture and tableware.[5] Her early ceramic pieces are known for its distinctive marbled patterns, that evoke natural skies and storms.[9]

Noha continued to refine her technique through travel, learning from traditional potters in Mexico, Italy, Armenia and Morocco.[8][10] Inspired by the work of women from the global south, her work seeks to challenge contemporary ideas about authorship, design and labour.[11][12][13] Noha additionally uses her pottery to explore her own identity and heritage. For example, she describes mixing using different colours of glaze as a metaphor to connect with her mixed race identity and experimenting with traditional Spanish pottery designs to showcase her Spanish heritage.[14][15]

In 2020, she began the "Baney Clay Project", a series of works using clay that was brought back from the Baney village in Equatorial Guinea, the site of her father's ancestral home.[7][16] She used the project to engage with her African identity, and to explore her "rebirth as a racialised woman".[6] The stoneware and porcelain pieces utilize designs that evoke women's bodies and further challenge ideas around women's labour and identity.[7][17][18] Noha has subsequently incorporated the volcanic red clays from Bioko island, and the home of her grandfather in her works.[14]

In 2021, she moved beyond pottery to create with new materials, including plaster, wax, and bronze.[19]

In 2022, Noha held her first solo exhibition, ‘Uprooting, re-rooting: Matter and Construction of the self’, in Bordeaux.[20] Today, Noha's work is found in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum,[21] the Crafts Council, Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, and the National Museum of Scotland.[3][22]

Activism

Outside of her artwork, Noha is a community activist, advocating for social justice and diversity in the arts industry. She leads the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre[23] and is a co-director of Lon-art Creative, a social activism organization for creatives.[5][24] Noha also works with Design Can, an initiative advocating for more inclusivity in the design industry.[5]

Collections and exhibitions

  • 2019 – London and Edinburgh Art Fairs[25]
  • 2021 – OFF – Focus Céramiques d'art', Bordeaux, France[25]
  • 2021 – Maker’s Eye, Craft Council and Atherton Green Art Gallery, Hampshire[3][26]
  • 2022 – Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics and Contemporary Art, at Two Temple Place and York Art Gallery[27][28]
  • 2022-23 – Uprooting, re-rooting: Matter and Construction of the self, Solo Exhibition, Galerie REVEL, Bordeaux[20]
  • 2023 – Solo Exhibition, Unit London[3]
  • 2024 – Miradas ecofeministas en el arte ecuatoguineano at the Spanish Cultural Centres in Bata and Malabo, Equatorial Guinea[7]
  • 2025 – Artist's Residency G.A.S. Foundation, Lagos[19]

References

  1. ^ a b "Bisila NOHA PASCUAL personal appointments". Find and update company information. GOV.UK.
  2. ^ "Bisila Noha on craftwomanship - Create (Arts) Limited". createarts.org.uk. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d "Bisila Noha | CAS". contemporaryartsociety.org. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  4. ^ "On belonging and clay". 17 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e Blanchard, Tamsin. "Hole & Corner x Marfa Stance: Bisila Noha". Hole&Corner.
  6. ^ a b "Bisila Noha – infoceramica". www.infoceramica.com. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d Veronika (23 October 2024). "Spotlight artist Bisila Noha". The Wick Culture. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  8. ^ a b Shury-Smith, Hannah (11 August 2022). "TBB Talks To … Art Activist Bisila Noha | The British Blacklist". Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  9. ^ Caroline (17 May 2019). "Meet the Maker: Bisila Noha | 91 Magazine". Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  10. ^ "A Life Journey Through Clay". 5 May 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  11. ^ "Bisila Noha: 'How many lineages of women's labour are we not aware of?'". www.craftscouncil.org.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  12. ^ "Bisila Noha on craftwomanship". createarts.org.uk. Create (Arts) Limited. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  13. ^ "The politics of clay: Black women, ceramics and contemporary art". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Bisila Noha". Aucoot.com. Aucoot. 28 June 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  15. ^ "Ceramicists to know - 5 Sep 2024 - Homes and Gardens - UK Magazine - Readly". gb.readly.com. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  16. ^ "Pandemic Diary: Bisila Noha". 2 August 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  17. ^ Ashby, Chloë (10 February 2022). "'Body Vessel Clay': Black Women and Ceramics". Frieze. No. 226. ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  18. ^ "Collect 2025 makers: Bisila Noha on women's labour". www.craftscouncil.org.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  19. ^ a b "Bisila Noha to Explore Heritage and Craft Through Clay During G.A.S. Residency". guestartist. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  20. ^ a b Foale, Emma (7 December 2022). "Bisila Noha unveils first solo exhibition | Storytelling with sculpture". Enki Magazine. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  21. ^ Noha, Bisila (2021), Reunion VIII: Beginnings, retrieved 20 February 2025
  22. ^ Thrown (20 March 2023). "National Musuems [sic] Scotland acquire Bisila Noha's 'Reunion XIX'". thrown. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  23. ^ "The powerful story of the LGBTQ+ Community Centre in London". Strengthscope. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  24. ^ "Bisila Noha". London LGBTQ Community Centre. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  25. ^ a b "Zetteler - Bisila Noha". Zetteler. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  26. ^ "Collect, the leading international fair for contemporary craft and design, returns to Somerset House". Somerset House. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  27. ^ Sherwin, Skye (31 January 2022). "Throwing muses: the Black female artists who create with clay". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  28. ^ Shury-Smith, Hannah (11 August 2022). "Body Vessel Clay at York Art Gallery | The British Blacklist". Retrieved 20 February 2025.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisila_Noha
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