Lot 38 Ato Malinda
Ato Malinda (Kenyan, born 1981)
Representation, 2014
Unsigned with certificate of authenticity
Edition 1/5 photographic print on archival watercolour paper
81 x 54 cm each
Ksh 235,000–450,000
(US$ 2,200–4,200)
Sold Ksh 258,280
Provenance: direct from the artist
Ato Malinda is a cross disciplinary artist who was born in Kenya and now lives and works in Rotterdam. Through her diverse practice of performance, drawing, installation, video and ceramics, Malinda investigates the hybrid nature of African identity. She also focuses on gender and female sexuality, inspired by the untold stories of LGBTQ communities.
These photos are from the body of work Representation, which explore the symbolism of the rainbow flag, and question its inclusivity. The flag has come to represent LGBTQ movements globally, but in this work Malinda raises the potential difficulties for a Kenyan woman with same-sex desires to identify with the flag whilst dealing with the stigma and issues of personal safety which continue to exist in the country.
Malinda has a Masters in Fine Arts from Transart Institute, New York. She was one of the honourees of the inaugural African art awards given by the Smithsonian Institution in 2016. She was also one of the awardees of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, 2015 and won the One Minutes Award for moving photography in 2012. Her solo shows include Games, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin in 2013 and Incommensurable Identities, Aarhus Art Building, 2011. She has exhibited in group exhibitions at Brooklyn Museum, 2016, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, 2015, the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2015, and the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, 2014, among others.