South Africa
Born in 1960 in remote Guyana to British and Warao-Arawak parents, and based in Botswana since 1985, Gollifer draws deeply on the rich materialities of nature to explore the relationship between identity and place. She is known for her use of the natural ochres of Botswana, found in soils and stones, as a water-based painting medium.
She was taught the practice of processing these earth pigments into paints by a traditional Motswana painter and healer from Mochudi, south east Botswana, Mma Motsei Nkwemabala. This labour-intensive process involves grinding and then dissolving the powdered pigments in water and gum arabic, evaporating off the water, and then painting with them just as one would work with watercolour paints.
Gollifer was educated in the United Kingdom, and completed a Masters in History of Art at Edinburgh University in 1983. She is an artist-member of the Thapong Visual Art Centre in Gaborone, of which she was part of the founding executive committee. Gollifer has had solo exhibitions with Guns & Rain (2020), Ed Cross Fine Art in London (2023), and her work has been exhibited at 1-54 African Art Fair London (2021), Untitled Art, Miami (2020) and Investec Cape Town Art Fair (2019, 2020, 2022, 2023). She has recently completed a Sacatar Foundation residency in Bahia, Brazil (2024). Gollifer is also a founding member of Gaborone’s Art Residency Centre which provides support to Batswana artists.
Continental drift
2024 Botswana ochres, graphite and photocopy transfer on paper 120 x 80 cm
All At Sea: Sea Bed
2022 Botswana ochre watercolour on Arches 400 gsm 160 x 120 cm
Hold on
2022 Botswana ochre watercolour on Arches 400gsm 160 x 120 cm
Hold on: Rise up
Deep Time (Part 2)
2021 Botswana ochres on Arches paper 300gms 208 x 127 cm
Leaf mother
2019 Watercolour on paper 76 x 76.5 cm
She and he
2019 Watercolour on paper 56.5 x 76 cm
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