Design by Samar Maakaroun at Pentagram
Ile Ọkàn (House of the Soul) (20th - 29th March 2026) is a solo exhibition by Bisila Noha,
a Spanish-Equatoguinean London-based ceramic artist, researcher and writer,
presented by specialist craft gallery Thrown in the newly opened ‘Barn’ of OmVed Gardens, Highgate.
Expanding on Bisila’s first Ile Ọkàn, originally built in Ikise, Nigeria, during a residency in 2025,
the exhibition reflects on a four-year journey of material and spiritual exploration.
Ile Ọkàn brings together sculpture, vessels, stools, photography and sound to create a space that is part shrine, part altar, part sacred room, all shaped by ritual, memory, and a desire for connection. An homage to Yoruba culture, to Bisila’s own spirituality and to women makers, the collection also pays tribute to the materials themselves - clay, plaster, bronze and wax - as the companions and teachers that they have become.
The collection is split into three sections ‘Entering the Sacred’, ‘Searching for the Self’ and ‘Communion’ to represent the ideas embedded in the pieces on show.
The exhibition is accompanied by a specially crated soundscape by multidisciplinary artist and curator Maxine Pennington which can also accompany you across this exhibition page:
The original Ile Okan at G.A.S. Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria. Photograph by the artist
Entering the Sacred
Exhibition photography by Robert Chadwick
Searching for the Self
Communion
Exhibition photography by Robert Chadwick
The Collection
Visiting
Address: OmVed Gardens, Townsend Yard, Highgate, London, N6 5JF
There is no visitor parking so you are encouraged to cycle, walk or take public transport.
Photograph by Christian Cassiel
Visiting
Book your free tickets to visit
Address: OmVed Gardens, Townsend Yard, Highgate, London, N6 5JF
There is no visitor parking so you are encouraged to cycle, walk or take public transport.
About OmVed Gardens
OmVed Gardens is a greenscape and learning hub in North London that allows communities to convene in nature to spend time exploring our deep entwinement with each other and the more-than-human.
"A small garden with big ideas. We ourselves are on a learning curve, regenerating our relationship with the land and sharing what we learn in the process."
"Our aim is to create a space where nature and diverse ways of thinking can flourish. Exploring food, creativity and ecology for health and climate resilience."
Opening Hours
Friday 20th March, 11am - 5pm
Saturday 21st March, 11am - 5pm
Sunday 22nd March, 12pm - 5pm
Monday 23rd March, CLOSED
Tuesday 24th March, CLOSED
Wednesday 25th March, 11am - 5pm
Thursday 26th March, 11am - 5pm
Friday 27th March, 11am - 5pm
Saturday 28th March, 11am - 5pm
Sunday 29th March, 12pm - 5pm
About OmVed Gardens
OmVed Gardens is a greenscape and learning hub in North London that allows communities to convene in nature to spend time exploring our deep entwinement with each other and the more-than-human.
"A small garden with big ideas. We ourselves are on a learning curve, regenerating our relationship with the land and sharing what we learn in the process."
"Our aim is to create a space where nature and diverse ways of thinking can flourish. Exploring food, creativity and ecology for health and climate resilience."
Opening Hours
Friday 20th March, 11am - 5pm
Saturday 21st March, 11am - 5pm
Sunday 22nd March, 12pm - 5pm
Monday 23rd March, CLOSED
Tuesday 24th March, CLOSED
Wednesday 25th March, 11am - 5pm
Thursday 26th March, 11am - 5pm
Friday 27th March, 11am - 5pm
Saturday 28th March, 11am - 5pm
Sunday 29th March, 12pm - 5pm
Events programme
Friday Live: Intentions, Flourishing Light
Friday 20th Mar 2026, 6:30pm
Intentions is an immersive, sound-led gathering, guided by Maxine Pennington and devoted to nurturing the heart, soul, and body. Taking place as part of the exhibition, the gathering unfolds in dialogue with themes of ritual, spirit, and our relationship to the natural world. Sound becomes a subtle thread connecting inner and outer landscapes, echoing the exhibition’s exploration of communion with land, memory, and the unseen.
Rather than a performance to watch, Intentions is a shared atmosphere to inhabit.
Find out more & book tickets >
OmVed Spring Supper Club
Thursday 26th Mar 2026, 6:30pm
Enjoy a thoughtful, creative low-waste cooking that responds to the land, the season, and the soul. The menu draws on wild and native ingredients grown in OmVed's permaculture garden, preserved in their kitchen, and sourced from local farmers. Led by Josephine Marchandise and Georgia Dowling.
Inspired by the exhibition, this unique Supper Club is rooted in the theme of "listening as care". Bisila Noha will also be at the table to introduce the ideas and work behind the exhibition.
Find out more & book tickets >
Barn Conversation: Journeys with women potters in West Africa with Bisila Noha
Friday 27th Mar 2026, 6:00pm
Join ceramic artist Bisila Noha for an intimate conversation, where she will share her experiences travelling through pottery communities in Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Senegal.
Through active participation in the making process, Bisila explored traditions passed down through generations, deeply connected to their local environments, histories, and ways of life. Hear her stories, reflections, and insights into the women potters whose practices continue to inspire and shape her work.
Find out more & book tickets >
About the Artist
Bisila Noha is a Spanish-Equatoguinean London-based artist, researcher and writer. With her work she aims to challenge Western views on art and craft; to question what we understand as productive and worthy in capitalist societies; and to reflect upon the idea of home and oneness pulling from personal experiences in different pottery communities.
She is a storyteller with a particular interest in the contributions of women of colour to the history of art and craft. As such, her words are a bridge bringing the past - the forgotten, the ignored, the belittled - to the present; to us.
Her practice extends from material investigations into the vessel that bring alive clay’s history; to sculptures using a range of materials which connect her to her roots, the makers that precede her and our shared past and humanity.
With a background in Translation and International Relations, she is a passionate feminist activist. She leads the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre; co-directs the arts and activism organisation Sheroes Collective; and also is a Trustee at Women in Tri UK, a charity breaking down barriers and empowering women in triathlon.
Bisila ’s work has been featured in many publications including the Financial Times and the New York Times. Notable exhibitions include the landmark exhibition ‘Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics and Contemporary Art’ at Two Temple Place, London (2022), York Art Gallery (2022) and the Ford Foundation Gallery, New York (2025). This presented the work of Ladi Kwali, Magdalene Odundo and Bisila Noha, three generations of Black women artists working with clay along with international contemporary artists Vivian Chinasa Ezhuga, Jade Montserrat, Julia Phillips, Phoebe Collings-James and Shawanda Corbett, to 'celebrate surprising new ways of exploring one of the world’s oldest artform.'
Her work can be found in many public and private collections including the V&A who will be exhibiting the two sculptures in their collection as part of the opening of the brand new V&A East Museum in April 2026.
Photograph by Christian Cassiel