ABOUT KIMATHI MAFAFO

Kimathi Mafafo is a multidisciplinary artist whose practise ranges from embroidery, oil painting to installation. Born in the semi-arid Kimberley in the Northern Cape of South Africa, Mafafo questions historical stereotypes around gender inequality in Africa. She primarily focuses on celebrating the black female and abstracted forms placing them in often verdant imaging characterised by lush greenery and sensuous drapery, are far removed from the dusty mining town where she grew up.

While her compositions may burst with riotous plant life each leaf and frond remain meticulously executed. Her compositions are seductive in their level of detail yet remain curiously flat, emphasising their highly staged nature and the narrative element, which is central to her work. Her imagery is partly guided by her desire to celebrate the black female form, inspiring women to embrace their own worth and beauty. Her earliest works are partly autobiographical and tell the story of a woman withdrawing from the urban lifestyle and finding strength in nature and within herself. Mafafo works alongside Mustapha Saadu — a tailor from Ghana — with whom she has collaborated on a series of embroideries telling stories of women trapped under the weight of tradition and not fully realising their worth. Embroidery is an ancient transcendent, and Kimathi as an emerging female artist, has found solace in the art form, transforming herself and her artwork.

Kimathi Mafafo’s artworks can be found in important public and private collections worldwide. Kimathi Mafafo’s practice in painting and embroidery work is a raw articulation of two mediums that have embodied the Black woman and/or female’s body within the tradition of woman’s work… In these, she creates a tension between becoming and being, concealing and revealing, retreating and showing up, all of which are an embodiment of the arduous negotiations Black women have to make in navigating their existence in society.

Taken from ‘This Woman’s Work: a brief reading of Kimathi Mafafo’s artwork’s Dr Same Mdluli. Arts Writer and Historian

Solo Exhibitions

2019     ‘Embolden’ at EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2018     Solo Presentation at Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, Booth S5,

2018     CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

2017     ‘Alone in Spring’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2015     ‘Withdrawn’, World Art, Cape Town, South Africa

Group Exhibitions

2021     ‘In [the] Loop, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2020     ‘Devils In The Details’, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2020     FNB Art Joburg online edition, Main Booth, Johannesburg, South Africa

2020     Intersect Chicago online edition of SOFA Expo, Chicago, United States of America

2020     1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair Online, powered by Christie’s, Somerset House in London, United Kingdom

2020     ‘FEMINIST UTOPIA’ curated by Anelisa Mangcu, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2020     LATITUDES Art Fair (Virtual Representation), EBONY/CURATED, Johannesburg, South Africa

2020     1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, United States of America

2020     Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, Booth A12, South Africa

2019     ‘Angel’, St Antoine Church, in association with Muse Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey

2019     ‘Spotlight’, LATITUDES Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, Johannesburg, South Africa

2019     ‘Botanica II’, Curated by Adele van Heerden for Art B Gallery, Bellville, South Africa

2019     ‘Textile’, Curated by Amy Pike for Dyman Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2019     ‘Filling in the Gaps’, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2019     Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2019     ‘Connections’, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa

2018     ‘Also Known As Africa’ (AKAA) 2018, Paris, France

2018     ‘Summer Exhibition’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2017     ‘Colourchart’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2017     ‘Turbine Art Fair’, EBONY/CURATED Stand, Johannesburg, South Africa

2017     ‘Art Africa Fair’, Cape Town, South Africa

2017     ‘A Painting Today’, Stevenson, Cape Town, South Africa

2016     ‘Turbine Art Fair’, EBONY/CURATED Stand, Johannesburg, South Africa

2016     ‘Summer Exhibition’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

Public Collections

Fondation H Museum, Antananarivo, Madagascar

The Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Palm Beach, Florida, USA

William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberly South Africa

Standard Bank Corporate Art Collection, Johannesburg, South Africa

Africa First Collection, Israel

IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

The Art Bank of South Africa, Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa

The Irma Stern Museum, The University of Cape Town