Peterson Kamwathi (Kenyan, born 1980)
Peri Urban Encounters II, circa 2012/13
Signed ‘signature’ (lower right)
Charcoal on paper
151 x 183 cm
Ksh 550,000-600,000
(US$ 5,000–5,455)
Sold Ksh 645,700
Provenance: private collection
For the last few years, Peterson Kamwathi has been considered one of the region’s most inventive artists, responding to the complex political and social issues around him. His work combines clear conceptual elements and rich content with technical mastery. He tends to work in series; using depictions of the human figure to explore and symbolize social, political, personal and institutional structures.
Kamwathi’s work has been exhibited worldwide, including Kenya, the UK, the USA, the Netherlands, Austria, El Salvador and Finland. In 2013 he exhibited in the joint exhibition Six Degrees of Separate Nations, Frost Art Museum, Miami. He has participated in many international workshops and residencies including printmaking at the London Print Studio in 2006, Art Omi International artist residency in New York in 2009 and as a Civitella Ranieri fellow in 2012. He recently completed a residency at the Zeitz Mocaa (Museum of Contemporary African Art), at Segera, Kenya in 2015. He completed a permanent sculptural installation commissioned by Garden City Mall in Nairobi 2015.