Kimathi Mafafo (b. 1984) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice ranges from embroidery and oil painting to installation. Mafafo obtained a National Diploma in Fine Arts from the College of Cape Town in 2007 and a National Diploma in Film and Video from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2016. 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 depicting abstracted forms typically surrounded by verdant imagery, characterised by lush greenery and sensuous drapery that are far removed from the dusty mining town where she grew up. She has recently organized a group of Capetonian woman into an informal traditional embroidery society.
Solo exhibitions include Salon, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA (2025); Fabric of Life, curated by Catherine Loewe, Paul Smith, No9 Albemarle Street, London, UK, (2024); (Upcoming) Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, USA (2025); Ebullience, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2024); Wandering in the Unknown World, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2023); Kgolagano – A Covenant, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa (2022); Gestures from The Awakened Mind, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2021); Embolden, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa (2019); Solo Presentation, at Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED (2018); CITCC, Cape Town, South Africa (2018); Alone in Spring, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa (2017); Withdrawn, World Art, Cape Town, South Africa (2015).
The work was acquired directly from the artist
Size: 120 by 150 cm
Signed on the back