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Lot Essay
Peterson Kamwathi’s bold work explores the tension between individual and collective identity, examining political upheaval, authoritarianism and migration. Primarily working in charcoal, and often working at scale, Kamwathi offers cool and nuanced comment on the state apparatus of control in Kenya, and the impacts upon its people, highlighting issues that resonate globally. At a glance, Kamwathi’s anonymous figures are reduced to their group identity, indicating the suppression of individuality.
Kamwathi created a large body of work relating to the violence following the 2007-2008 general election in Kenya, in which over a thousand people were killed. In Untitled (ECK), 2008, we see anonymous men in suits peering through sheets of paper with eye holes cut into them. One man timidly lowers the sheet, his eyes wide and fearful. The figures gaze piercingly and directly toward the viewer, their eyes showing varying degrees of either fear or defiance.
Cattle and sheep also feature prominently in Kamwathi’s oeuvre: key signifiers for many in Southern and East Africa. In the context of Kenya, the status conferred upon an individual who has a large amount of livestock has caused significant societal and environmental problems: excessive grazing has led to drought and tension between farm owners, as well as being used as a proxy for wider societal issues. In many ways cattle have played and continue to play a key role in shaping politics in Kenya. Despite being herd animals, in Kamwathi’s work, they appear more as individuals whereas humans more frequently appear in large groups and formations. In Kamwathi’s Ram Triptych we see the ram as a tragic figure, displaced and head bowed in despair, we chart the journey of the ram through his trials and tribulations, until he emerges transformed.
Peterson Kamwathi is arguably the most well known Kenyan artist who continues to live and work in Kenya. He represented Kenya at the 57th Venice Biennale 2017, and has exhibited in the Dak’Art Biennale, Senegal in 2014 and 2010.
Kamwathi created a large body of work relating to the violence following the 2007-2008 general election in Kenya, in which over a thousand people were killed. In Untitled (ECK), 2008, we see anonymous men in suits peering through sheets of paper with eye holes cut into them. One man timidly lowers the sheet, his eyes wide and fearful. The figures gaze piercingly and directly toward the viewer, their eyes showing varying degrees of either fear or defiance.
Cattle and sheep also feature prominently in Kamwathi’s oeuvre: key signifiers for many in Southern and East Africa. In the context of Kenya, the status conferred upon an individual who has a large amount of livestock has caused significant societal and environmental problems: excessive grazing has led to drought and tension between farm owners, as well as being used as a proxy for wider societal issues. In many ways cattle have played and continue to play a key role in shaping politics in Kenya. Despite being herd animals, in Kamwathi’s work, they appear more as individuals whereas humans more frequently appear in large groups and formations. In Kamwathi’s Ram Triptych we see the ram as a tragic figure, displaced and head bowed in despair, we chart the journey of the ram through his trials and tribulations, until he emerges transformed.
Peterson Kamwathi is arguably the most well known Kenyan artist who continues to live and work in Kenya. He represented Kenya at the 57th Venice Biennale 2017, and has exhibited in the Dak’Art Biennale, Senegal in 2014 and 2010.