Kimathi Donkor
Kimathi Donkor | |
---|---|
Born | 1965 (age 58–59) |
Occupation | Artist |
Kimathi Donkor (born in 1965) is a
Early life and education
Donkor was born in Bournemouth, England, in 1965.[4] He has said of his background: "I was born in the UK to an Anglo-Jewish mother and Ghanaian father, but was raised by my adopted parents who were from Jamaica and the UK. We lived for a time in Zambia, Central Africa, where my adopted dad worked as a vet. I finished my schooling in the west of England, then moved to London, where I eventually settled. In the meantime, my adopted parents had divorced and remarried, so the family diversity actually increased, as Zambians also joined the party. This smörgåsbord life induced an early sense of the wondrous, and sometimes maddening, complexity of identities and histories, which, I think, has been reflected in my artworks. Precisely because I was such an intimate witness to the multiple crossings and re-crossings of stories, images and journeys from around the world."[8]
Donkor received an Art Foundation Diploma from
Career and works
Kimathi Donkor's paintings have featured in prominent international exhibitions, including at London's National Portrait Gallery, the 15th Sharjah Biennial, UAE,[13] the Dulwich Picture Gallery,[14] the 29th São Paulo Art Biennial, the Institute of Contemporary Arts,[15] the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and the International Slavery Museum. Examples of his art are held by significant international public and private collections, including at the British Museum, the International Slavery Museum,[16] Wolverhampton Art Gallery,[17] the Sharjah Art Foundation, the collection of CCH Pounder[18] and the Shariat Collection.[19]
Black History Paintings
Donkor's artwork is primarily known for his figurative paintings about significant people and events from
The artist's "Queens of the Undead" paintings
Caroline Menezes suggested that Donkor's work, "articulates a hidden history, tales of the past and chronicles of suppressed voices",
Curating and art teaching
In 2008, Donkor was commissioned to curate the touring group show Hawkins & Co at
Selected solo exhibitions
- 2024 Black History Painting, Niru Ratnam Gallery, London.
- 2023 Helix/Idyl, Niru Ratnam Gallery, London.
- 2023 [1] On Episode Seven Holland Park Billboard, London
- 2022, Play, Rest, Work, University College London Hospital, London, England
- 2021, [2] Notebooks Brixton Library, London
- 2021, [3] Idylls DKUK, London
- 2015 Some Clarity of Vision, Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg
- 2013 Daddy, I want to be a black artist, Peckham Space, London
- 2012 Queens of the Undead, with InIVA at Rivington Place, London
- 2008 Hawkins & Co, Market Theatre Gallery, Armagh, Northern Ireland
- 2005 Fall/Uprising, Bettie Morton Gallery, London
- 2005 Caribbean Passion: Haiti 1804, Art Exchange Gallery (touring), Nottingham
- 2004 Caribbean Passion: Haiti 1804, Bettie Morton Gallery, London
Selected group exhibitions
- 2024: "The Time is Always Now Artists Reframe the Black Figure", National Portrait Gallery, London, England (Curated by Ekow Eshun).
- 2024: "Soulscapes", Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, England (Curated by Lisa Anderson).
- 2023: "Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present", UAE (Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi).
- 2022-23: "The New African Portraiture. Shariat Collections", Krems, Austria (Curated by Ekow Eshun).
- 2021: "UNTITLED: Art on the conditions of our time", Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, England (Curated by Paul Goodwin with Guy Haywood).
- 2021: "War Inna Babylon: The Community’s Struggle for Truths and Rights", Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England (Curated by Stafford Scott, Kamara Scott and Rianna Jade Parker).
- 2021: "QUEEN: From the Collection of CCH Pounder", the USA.
- 2019: "London Art Fair", Business Design Centre, London, England (Presented by Ed Cross Fine Art).
- 2018: "Diaspora Pavilion: Venice to Wolverhampton", Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, England (curated by David A. Bailey and Jess Taylor)
- 2018: "A History of Drawing", Camberwell Space, London, England (curated by Kelly Chorpening).
- 2017: "Diaspora Pavilion", Venice Biennale, Palazzo Pisani S. Marina, Venice, Italy (curated by David A. Bailey and Jess Taylor).
- 2017–18: "Ink And Blood", International Slavery Museum, Liverpool, England (curated by Jean Francois Manicom).
- 2017: "Untitled: Art on the Conditions of Our Time", New Art Exchange, Nottingham, England (curated by Paul Goodwin and Hansi Momodu-Gordon)
- 2013: Entre Trânsitos e Viagens, Carpintaria São Lazaro, Lisbon, Portugal
- 2013: What's Going On, The Usher Gallery, Lincoln, UK
- 2012: Invisible Forces, Furtherfield, London
- 2011: Seven Things To Do In An Emergency, The British School at Rome, Rome, Italy
- 2010: 29th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- 2008: Hawkins & Co, Contemporary Urban Centre, Liverpool, UK
- 2004: Historicism, 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, London
- 1985: Young, Black & Here, People's Gallery, London
- 1985: Artists Against Apartheid, Royal Festival Hall, London
References
- ^ Adrian Searle, "The Time is Always Now review – striking shades of brilliant black figurative art" (review) The Guardian, 21 February 2024.
- ^ "Artwork Yaa Asantewaa Inspecting the Dispositions at Ejisu". British Museum. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ Brett, Phil (29 October 2017). "Beyond the boundaries: A review of the Diaspora Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale". Culture Matters. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ^ ISBN 8585298332.
- ^ https://sharjahart.org/biennial-15 title= Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present|access-date=18 March 2024|language=en-gb
- ^ a b c Menezes, Caroline (5 December 2012). "Retelling history through art – an interview with Kimathi Donkor, Studio International". Studio International. The Studio Trust. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
- ISBN 9780520286535.
- ^ Philip Kaisary, "An interview with Kimathi Donkor", Lacuna Magazine, 18 February 2015.
- ^ "CV" (PDF). Kimathi Donkor. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
- ^ a b Yvette Greslé, "Kimathi Donkor: ‘Daddy, I want to be a black artist’ @ Peckham Space"[usurped], FAD, 3 October 2013.
- ^ "Kimathi Donkor". ICF International Curators Forum. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ a b "Black art and activism". IRoyal Academy. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- ^ Nadine Khalil, "Sharjah Biennial 15 delivers important postcolonial narrative—but loses its experimental edge" (review), The Art Newspaper, 20 February 2023.
- ^ Nancy Durrant, "Soulscapes at Dulwich Picture Gallery review: balm for the soul, food for the mind" The Standard, 13 February 2024.
- ^ Aurella Yussuf, "Charting Black Resistance in the UK Since the 1940s" (review) Hyperallergic, 9 September 2021.
- S2CID 194832436. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ^ "Artwork Madonna Metropolitan: the death of Cynthia Jarrett". Black Artists & Modernism. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ^ CCH Pounder; Sarah Anita Clunis; Samantha Noel; et al. Queen : from the collection of CCH Pounder. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American Art, 2018.
- ^ "The New African Portraiture. Shariat Collections". Kunsthalle Krems. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ Oladimeji, Akin (2023). "Performing History: Jelili Atiku's performances, Lubaina Himid's and Kimathi Donkor's 'Toussaint Louverture', Steve McQueen's 'Carib's Leap' and Yinka Shonibare's 'Mr and Mrs Andrews'". Third Text: Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Art and Culture. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ Eddie Chambers (2013): "Reading the Riot Act", Visual Culture in Britain, Volume 14, Issue 2, 2013. DOI:10.1080/14714787.2013.782156.
- ^ Coline Milliard, "Kimathi Donkor - 'Queens of the Undead'" (review), Blouinartinfo, 2 November 2012.
- ^ Rebecca Taylor, "Brixton Gallery raided by Met", Time Out, 9–16 November 2005, p. 16.
- ^ "Kimathi Donkor: Queens of the Undead" Archived 21 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine, 12 September – 24 November 2012, iniva.
- Frieze Magazine, 19 November 2012.
- ^ Lara Pawson, "The black ghosts haunting Downton Abbey", The Guardian, 14 November 2012.
- ^ Hazelann Williams, "Resurrecting The Past", The Voice, 29 September 2012.
- ^ Derek Turner (2013): "Modernity in a medieval city", Quarterly Review, 17 January 2014.
- ^ Annie Ridout, "Queens of the Undead – Black history brought up to date", Hackney Citizen, 1 October 2012.
- ^ "Kimathi Donkor wins the De'Longhi Art Projects Artist Award 2019". Art Daily. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Sandra Gibson (2008): "Hawkins & Co" (review) Archived 11 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Nerve.
- ^ Untold London Archived 14 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Seeing Through Display: Motion and Material", Tate Britain: Exhibition, 14 July – 6 August 2009.
- ^ "Dr Kimathi Donkor, Reader - Programme Director in Painting,Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts". UAL. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
- ^ McLean, Sarah (1 April 2019). "Meet Dr Kimathi Donkor, new Course Leader, BA Fine Art Painting at Camberwell". UAL. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
Further reading
- Anjos, M., & A. Farias, 2010, 29th Bienal Documentation, São Paulo: Fundação de Bienal São Paulo, ISBN 978-85-85298-37-1
- Anjos, M., & A. Farias, 2010, 29th Bienal Catalogue, São Paulo: Fundação de Bienal São Paulo, ISBN 978-85-85298-33-3
- ISBN 978-1-57027-293-6
- Benci, J., 2012, Fine Arts 2011-2012, British School at Rome (Rome), ISBN 978-0-904152-64-7
- Bernier, Celeste-Marie, 2019. Stick to the Skin: African American and Black British Art, 1965–2015. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520286535
- Dibosa, D., et al. 2012, Kimathi Donkor: Queens of the Undead Iniva (London), ISBN 978-1-899846-54-2
- ISBN 978-1-7807-6271-5
- Kaisary, P., 2014, The Haitian Revolution in the Literary Imagination, London and Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, ISBN 978-0-8139-3546-1
- Miranda, M., & A. Páscoa, 2014, Offline: Between Transits and Journeys, Lisbon: XEREM Associação Cultural, ISBN 978-989-97183-1-9
- Miller, M., 2013, Seeing Through, London: Tate Young People's Programmes
External links
- Kimathi Donkor's official website
- Kimathi Donkor's page at Niru Ratnam Gallery, London.
- Kimathi Donkor's page at Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg, South Africa.
- Kimathi Donkor's page at Omenka Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria.