Annabel Wanjiku (Kenyan, born 1962)
Mother Nature and her Babies, circa 2001
signed ‘Annabel Wanjiku’ (lower right)
soil, ashes, charcoal and acrylic on jute
121 x 100cm
Ksh 280,000–320,000
US$ 3,180–3,630
Sold Ksh 410,900
Provenance: Direct from Artist by Red Hill Art Gallery
Wanjiku was one of Ruth Schaffner’s most celebrated Gallery Watatu artists. She was initially discovered as part of the Ngecha Village arts co-operative and was mentored by Schaffner who considered her one of the most interesting female artists of her generation in Kenya.
Her homegrown, impasto technique of laying paint on canvas, involves mixing and creating her own paints using clay and natural pigments alongside traditional artist paint from her home in Nyeri. Her work has featured in group and solo exhibitions since 1988 in Kenya, Uganda, Germany and Japan. Wanjiku remains one of Nairobi’s legends from the post-independence era.