Peterson Kamwathi
The Two Horse Race, diptych
About the SessionNAIROBI – Following their successful collaboration in 2025, Strauss & Co, Africa’s leading auction house, and Danda Jaroljmek, Director of Art Auction East Africa, will present Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co, a 67-lot sale bringing together modern and contemporary art from East Africa and the wider continent. The live-virtual sale will be held at Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi on Wednesday, 28 October, 2026, 7pm EAT. The catalogue spans a diversity of East African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda, alongside works by artists from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Nigeria. Works on paper, photography and sculpture complements the strong painting consignment. “The selection invites collectors to discover East Africa’s diverse modernist histories, particularly those beyond the Anglophone world,” says Susie Goodman. “In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in East African modernists, with artists associated with the Khartoum School shown in museums and fairs globally. Our work as an auction house rooted in Africa is ensuring this rediscovery is not temporary. We are delighted to partner with Danda Jaroljmek in cultivating a sustainable secondary market for East African modernists active during the era of decolonisation and independence.” A preview exhibition will be held at Circle Art Gallery, Victoria Square, Riara Road, Nairobi, during the two weeks preceding the auction on Wednesday, 28 October 2026.
LOT 27
Peterson Kamwathi
The Two Horse Race, diptych
About this Item
signed and dated 04
Notes
In reference to the 2004 Kenya referendum.
Peterson Kamwathi is considered one East Africa’s most inventive artists, incisively responding to the political and social issues around him. Working predominantly in printmaking, drawing and sculpture, Kamwathi combines conceptual elements and rich content with technical mastery.
Kamwathi has exhibited widely both locally and internationally. Recent highlights include his participation in Borderlines – Thirty Contemporary Artists from the Indian Ocean, Port Louis, Mauritius; the Young Congo Bienniale, Kinshasa, DRC, both in 2019; and Selections from the Private Collection of Ernst Hilger, Museum Angerlehner, Austria, 2018.
Other significant exhibitions include When the Heavens Meet the Earth, Heong Gallery, Cambridge, 2017; and La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2017, where he represented Kenya. Kamwathi has participated in many international workshops and residencies, including the Fountainhead Residency in Miami, 2016; the Civitella Ranieri fellowship, 2012; the Art Omi international artist residency, 2009 and a printmaking residency at the London Print Studio, 2006. In 2013 he exhibited in the joint exhibition Six Degrees of Separate Nations, Frost Art Museum, Miami. Kamwathi is collected widely both locally and internationally, including by the British Museum.
Biography courtesy of Circle Art Gallery.
Provenance
Private Collection.
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