Ruth Kanini Musyoka (b. 1982)
Red Soil Hymn, 2022
Soil pigment, charcoal and acrylic medium on raw canvas
160 × 130 cm
Estimate KES 450,000–700,000
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About the work
A great arc of red earth sweeps up from the lower left of the canvas and breaks against bars of charcoal. Musyoka worked the soil, sieved from her family's land near Machakos, into the raw cotton with her palms and rags, and the marks of her hands are everywhere in it.
Condition
Very good. A little loose pigment at the lower edge, stable.
Provenance
Acquired from the artist by the present owner, 2022.
The artist
Musyoka makes her own pigment from the red soil of her family's land near Machakos, sieved and bound with acrylic medium, and works it into raw cotton canvas with her hands, rags and charcoal. The large gestural paintings that result read as weather, or as hymns. She has said that the paintings are dry-season pictures even when they are made in the rains.
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