This Mother's Day, we want to introduce you to the women whose hands shape every piece you see in our gallery. In KwaZulu-Natal, almost eight in ten of the children running through the studios at Love Art Ceramic and Zimele are being raised by their mother alone. The piece you bring home was made by that hand.
They are mothers, master ceramicists, and the heads of their households at the same time. Three identities held in the same pair of hands, six days a week, year after year.
Jabu Nene started Love Art Ceramic out of a small workshop in KwaZulu-Natal more than thirty years ago. What began as one woman painting on her own grew into a studio that now houses sculptors, painters, and a generation of younger artists trained directly by her.
Most of those artists are mothers. Many of them are raising their families on what they make at the studio. Jabu is the reason the work has the consistency and the warmth it does — and the reason so many of the women working there can stay in the village with their children rather than leaving to find work in the city.
Her own pieces still come off her bench too. The protea vases, the elephant pieces, the chameleons — those quiet, careful compositions are hers.
Dive deeper into the stories of resilience and beauty. Subscribe for updates on new collections, artist stories, and exclusive Pascoe Gallery events.
