Henry Moore inspires Owanto. Both are obsessed with the theme of maternity and both are influenced by the African tribal art they admire. Like Moore, Owanto approaches abstraction with human warmth – body and mind are connected, arms are reaching out for love and spiritual reunion – and always omnipresent is the feeling of the sacred within us.

Owanto started to sculpt in London in 1990 when she was expecting her first child.
Her friendship with Elizabeth Wright, R.C.A., a talented sculptress, sometime assistant to Sir Anthony Caro, was most enlightening. Elizabeth gave her a profound understanding of form and balance. Owanto spontaneously creates figures in terracotta which in turn become magnificent bronzes, both powerful and tender, telling us of her tangible world where the joy of parenthood is evident.