Yony Waite (Kenyan)
Migration, circa 1985
Signed ‘Waite’ (lower right) ‘Jony Waite’ (right)
Ink on paper
110 x 90 cm
Ksh 240,000-400,000
(US$ 2,180-3,640)
Sold Ksh 446,120
Provenance: direct from the artist
Yony Waite, now a Kenyan citizen, grew up on the Pacific Island of Guam. After graduating in Fine Art from the University of California, Waite went to Japan to study the art of Sumie brush painting.
She developed a respect and love of ink as medium with its direct and unchangeable marks that she likens to the original creative expressions of early humans.
This painting from the artist’s collection captures the flowing movement of the wildebeest migration with the galloping hooves and swishing tails lending themselves to the flick of a brush.
Alongside her work as an artist, Waite has been instrumental in establishing various art institutions in Kenya, most notably as a co-founder of Gallery Watatu in 1968 which was sold to Ruth Shaffner in 1984. She went on to establish Wilderbeeste Workshops and Mkonokono women’s group in Lamu were she still lives.
Waite has a strong international following and has exhibited extensively in Japan, U.S.A and Kenya.
This is a very rare early work that has not been shown in public before.