Ato Malinda (Kenyan, born 1981)
Untitled, 2015
Signed ‘ato’ (lower left)
Mixed media on paper
30 x 40 cm

Untitled, 2015
Signed ‘ato’ (lower right)
Mixed media on paper
30 x 40 cm

Sold as a pair

Ksh 180,000-220,000
(US$ 1,635-2,000)
Sold Ksh 211,320

Provenance: direct from the artist

Ato Malinda’s cross-disciplinary practice currently focuses on the ontology of African female experience, queer identity and feminist narratives, and has been gaining rapid prominence on the global contemporary art scene.

These works are from a limited series of zoomorphic drawings of female figures, which interpret roles of women in African social hierarchies.

Malinda studied art history and molecular biology at the University of Texas. She also has a masters in fine art from Transart Institute in New York and is currently working towards a doctorate of philosophy (PhD) in art at Leiden University and the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague.

Her work is part of the travelling exhibition The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists, curated by Simon Njami, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main and SCAD Museum of Art in 2015. Other solo and group exhibitions include African Odysseys, BRASS Contemporary Art Centre Brussels 2015, GAMES, Savvy Contemporary in Berlin 2013, and the Karen Blixen Museum in Copenhagen 2010.