GALLERIES: A second chance to lift the lid on a well-kept secret…
Monday May 10 2021
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Gor Soudan is another of those artists who shun publicity, avoid interviews and work quietly away in their studios achieving what they came into this world to do create art.
Little can be heard of him for months if not years before he suddenly pops back into our consciousness with sometimes complex, occasionally deceptively simple, paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures that take our breath away.
Forever foraging among political and social issues, his reputation was built by a series of collages and paintings (often on newspaper) of threatening Indian crows which he used to symbolise messengers from another culture.
Rosemary Karuga, Untitled, 1998. (Images courtesy of Red Hill Art Gallery)
A vast chapter of the still mostly untold story of women’s art in Kenya starts with Rosemary Namuli Karuga. Karuga passed away on 9 February 2021 at the age of 93. She was one of the pioneers who made major contributions to contemporary art on the continent and is recognised as one of the finest East African artists of her generation.
Karuga is known for her collage works depicting pastoral and domestic African scenes, commonly villagers and farmers and animals. They would go on to be shown internationally, but she only began to produce commercial art in her 60s, once she had retired from teaching.
Remembering Rosemary Karuga: Artworks of alluring simplicity and extraordinary detail
A vast chapter of the still mostly untold story of women’s art in Kenya starts with Rosemary Namuli Karuga. Karuga passed away on 9 February 2021 at the age of 93. She was one of the pioneers who made major contributions to contemporary art on the continent and is recognised as one of the finest East African artists of her generation.
Karuga is known for her collage works depicting pastoral and domestic African scenes, commonly villagers, farmers and animals. They would go on to be shown internationally, but she began to produce commercial art only in her 60s, when she had retired from teaching.
Rosemary Karuga is known for her collage works depicting pastoral and domestic African scenes, commonly villagers and farmers and animals (Museum der Weltkulturen, OSU, Contemporary African Art Gallery)
Rosemary Karuga is known for her collage works depicting pastoral and domestic African scenes, commonly villagers and farmers and animals.
Art practices evolved around her work and scholarly works have been inspired and influenced by her practice.
At one point, she was the only woman to have her work internationally along acclaimed African artists like El Anatsui, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ablade Glover and Tapfuma Gutsa.
A vast chapter of the still mostly untold story of women’s art in Kenya starts with Rosemary Namuli Karuga. Karuga passed away on 9 February 2021 at the age of 93. She was one of the pioneers who made major contributions to contemporary art on the continent and is recognised as one of the finest East African artists of her generation.