Art from East Africa X: Peterson Kamwathi
“I view myself as a part of my society and as such I’m accountable to the society. Being an artist in this society extends beyond my immediate environment to include the world. In my work I strive to address and document issues that affect and impact my country, my continent and now the planet.”
Untitled III, 2014.
About:
Untitled- ECK?, 2008-2009.
Peterson Kamwathi is a Nairobi based artist whose substantial body of work has established him as one of the most radical and aesthetically compelling artists in East Africa. Though rooted in figurative tradition, Kamwathi’s works are highly conceptual, created over long periods of time focusing on distinct topics and executed with technical mastery. The themes, formatted in series, are social, political and cultural, rooted in the Kenyan context that surrounds him but treating global phenomena. In 2009 he produced a work that cemented his already widespread reputation: Sitting Allowance, a fiercely dark comment on the deep political crisis that engulfed Kenya in 2008. His recent artistic practice has focused on interrogating social, economic and cultural spaces in a post-colonial context. His work, rendered in carefully constructed, thick layers of charcoal and pastel on thick watercolour paper, is informed by his obsession with the psychology of everyday human action and rituals: the anatomy of queues, weddings and masquerades amongst others. Kamwathi is constantly exploring the place, role, symbolism and meaning of processions and groupings within contemporary ceremonies and political protocol. Taking on the role of an observer, he extracts modes of behavior, staging scenarios that express the farcical nature of masquerade inherent to social conventions and imposed political norms – norms that are both inherited from colonial rule and re-appropriated. In his most recent body of work, Peterson’s practice has focused on rituals within organized religions, exploring positions of prayer, his research originating from the ever-present tension between Christianity and Islam.
Untitled, 2014.
Kamwathi’s work has been exhibited in numerous venues around the world including Kenya, the UK, the USA, Holland, Austria, El Salvador and Finland.
Untitled, 2010.
Untitled II, 2014.
