The complex entanglements of history, place, identity and belonging are at the heart of Ann Gollifer’s (b. 1960) work. Her art draws on her South American, British and African heritage, and their shared histories of conquest and colonialism. Gollifer makes her watercolour paint herself, using earth pigments collected from around Botswana.
Stemming in part from her interest in how politics and power have defined ecosystems, her work has become more relevant than ever in the time of a global pandemic and climate change. Mythological, metamorphosed creatures – composed in the rich burnt earth colours of sienna, umber and ochre among others – speak to fecundity and the feminine, reminding us of the primordial whilst questioning what lies ahead. Her hybrid figures take on new meaning in an age where viruses are crossing inter-species and from animals to humans. Gollifer’s ‘body maps’ reflecting her long-standing interest in gender and identity, and the fact that she has used her own body in her artwork for years.
View Ann’s catalogue for Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2022 and follow her on Artsy.
Gollifer has lived and worked in Gaborone, Botswana since 1985. A multidisciplinary artist, her own navigation of identity informs much of her work: she was born in a remote part of Guyana to British and Warao-Arawak parents, who traveled and worked widely during her childhood, and completed a Masters in History of Art at Edinburgh University (1983). An Artist member of the Thapong Visual Art Centre, Gaborone, Gollifer was part of the founding executive committee. Gollifer has exhibited in multiple group and solo shows across multiple countries, and her work has been collected by the British Museum, the National Museum of Botswana and the Triangle International Art Workshops amongst others. In South Africa she has worked with printmakers Mark Attwood and Joe Legate, and has exhibited at CIRCA Johannesburg (2011) and Everard Read (2009).
Watch this video of Ann Gollifer in her Gaborone studio.
The artist had a solo show at Guns & Rain in 2020, and has exhibited at 1-54 African Art Fair London (2021), Untitled Art, Miami (2020) and Investec Cape Town Art Fair (2019, 2020, 2022). She has recently completed a long-term book-art project about her roots in Guyana. She will have a solo with Ed Cross Fine Art in London in 2023 and is one of the finalists for the Sacatar Foundation residency award 2023, taking place in the Bahia state in Brazil.