Strauss & co - 1 December 2018, Cape Town

54 Zeitz MOCAA Benefit Art Auction Peterson Kamwathi is perhaps best known for his body of work Sitting Allowance (2007), which reflected on the post-election violence in Kenya that same year. Since then, his practice has continued to explore pertinent issues faced within and beyond the country’s borders. This particular work, Flux (Vessels: Constellations and Sediments IV) (2017-18), takes its cue from the displacement and subsequent migration of people across the globe. Here we see a floating geometric shape.Words and currencies like ‘Gold’, ’Gas’, and ‘USD’ are stencilled across it, bringing to mind global stock markets. Above this, a figure is captured mid-air like a gymnast caught between the moment of take-off and landing. Its position is precarious, its future unknown. Peterson Kamwathi (b. 1980, Kenya) has shown work at the Venice Biennale,Venice (Italy: 2017); One Off Contemporary Art Gallery, Nairobi (Kenya: 2013); Dak’Art Biennale, Dakar (Senegal: 2010); Brot Kunsthalle,Vienna (Austria: 2010); and the Goethe-Institut, Nairobi (Kenya: 2009), amongst others. 25 Peterson Kamwathi KENYAN 1980- Flux (Vessels: Constellations and Sediments IV) 2017 - 2018 charcoal, graphite, coloured pencils, stencil, soft pastel, spray paint sheet size: 113,5 by 115cm ZAR60 000 - 80 000 £3 500 - 4 500 $4 200 - 5 700 € 3 750 - 5 000 PROVENANCE Donated by the artist. Courtesy of Artlab Africa. Image courtesy of Mario Todeschini