Magdalene Odundo and Edith Devaney

In this new video, Magdalene Odundo discusses her debut exhibition at Xavier Hufkens, the artist’s largest gallery exhibition to date, with curator Edith Devaney.

“There’s always the temptation to have descriptive values that evaluate and justify the work to be there. But I wanted to get to the stage where the work will speak for me, will say who I am, will define what my culture is.” — Magdalene Odundo

Edith Devaney is currently the artistic director of Malta International Contemporary Art Space (MICAS). She was a senior curator at the Royal Academy of Arts in London for over twenty years, where she was responsible for originating and curating many ambitious and groundbreaking exhibitions such as Jasper Johns: Something Resembling Truth (2017), also curating its tour to The Broad in Los Angeles; Abstract Expressionism (2016), also curating its tour to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and David Hockney: A Bigger Picture (2012), curating its tour to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Devaney left the Royal Academy in 2021 to manage the David Hockney Foundation and David Hockney Inc. in Los Angeles for two years. She continues to write and lecture widely on art, and to work on independent curatorial projects. She is a board member of the International Catalogue Raisonné Association (ICRA).