Mo Abbaro was born in 1935 in Abu Jibayha, Sudan. In 1959, he won a scholarship to study ceramics at Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, followed by further courses in industrial pottery and chemical analysis in North Staffordshire. He returned to Sudan in the early 1960s to teach ceramics, then settled permanently in England in 1966 and taught at the Camden Arts Centre for more than 20 years.
Ceramicist and potter Mohammed Ahmed Abdalla Abbaro, usually known as Mo Abbaro, was born 17 October 1935 in Abu Jibayha, Sudan, at the time jointly co-administered by the United Kingdom and Egypt. His parents were farmers and Koranic teachers. Abbaro frequently helped on the farm, especially with goat herding, an activity he said strongly influenced his animal figures in his future art. He was keen to pursue higher education and was also the first member of his family to learn English. In 1958, he graduated in Fine and Applied Art from Khartoum Technical Institute, afterwards winning a scholarship to study ceramics at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London in 1959, followed by a postgraduate studies in industrial pottery design at North Staffordshire College of Ceramics. He then trained in chemical analyses of ceramics materials at the North Staffs College of Ceramics Technology.
In the early 1960s, Abbaro returned to (by then independent) Sudan to teach ceramics as part of an agreement with the Khartoum Technical Institute. Alongside pottery, he also practiced painting, sculpture and textile design. During this period, he married artist Rose Glennie, granddaughter of the composer Sir Edwin Lutyens, whom he taught alongside at the Khartoum Technical Institute. In 1966 the couple decided to move back to London permanently and Abbaro served as head of the Ceramics Department at the Camden Arts Centre for more than 20 years. His studio and showroom in London were located on King Henry's Road, close to Primrose Hill. Around Christmastime every year the Abbaros would hold-open house exhibitions of pottery and porcelain dolls they had made during the past year. He produced many sculptural forms in stoneware and porcelain using the mould technique, decorated with stained slips and glazes, and high fired with distinctive qualities. He also produced ceramic pots inspired by Sudanese Kerma pottery traditions, using the wheel technique and surface decorated with painted coloured slips.
In 1968 he participated in the British Potters ’68 showcase at Qantas Gallery, showing as Mohmed Abdalla, one of 12 potters including Bernard Leach and Lucy Rie. Abbaro's work was also exhibited in London at the Barbican Centre, the Whitechapel Gallery (part of the Africa ’95 Festival) and the Mall Galleries, as well as at the Iraqi Cultural Centre. His ceramics are in collections including the British Museum, London; the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C. Late in life, Abbaro turned to writing and published several books on ceramics and on his family history. He died in London on 12 March 2016, at the age of 80.