The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2023 Benefit Auction | Hosted by Sotheby’s

Teresa Kutala Firmino

Oku Pekela (Their Calour is a Diabolical Die)

Reserves

Lot Closed

January 31, 05:24 PM GMT

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Teresa Kutala Firmino

South Africa

b.1993

Oku Pekela (Their Calour is a Diabolical Die)

signed and dated 2022 (lower right)

acrylic and collage on canvas

142 by 163cm., 55⅞ by 64⅛in.

framed: 162.5 by 181.5cm., 64 by 71½in.

Please be aware of the Conditions of Sale when bidding. As a benefit auction, there is no buyer’s premium charged. The only additional costs due to the winning bidder are applicable sales tax and shipping. Works auctioned are sold “as is,” and condition reports are included with lot descriptions as available. In-person previews of the auction artwork will be available at Norval Foundation at 4 Steenberg Rd, Tokai, Cape Town, 7945, South Africa from 25 January – 20 March, Monday to Sundays 9AM – 5:00PM (Closed on Tuesdays).Please note that while this auction is hosted on Sothebys.com, it is being administered by Norval Foundation (“the museum”), and all post-sale matters (inclusive of invoicing and property pickup/shipment) will be handled by the museum. As such, Sotheby’s will share the contact details for the winning bidders with the museum so that they may be in touch directly post-sale.

This work has been kindly donated by the artist

Teresa Kutala Firmino is a multimedia artist based in Johannesburg. She works with paint, collage, photography and performance in order to investigate the trauma that African people in her community and beyond have experienced due to colonisation, civil wars and present day obstacles. Her interest in collective trauma is grounded in her birthplace, Pomfret. Located in the North West Province of South Africa, Pomfret is a community of the former 32 Battalion Angolan soldiers and their families, many of whom settled there after the end of the South African Border War.

Translated from Umbundu, the title of this body of work, Oku pekela (2022), means to sleep, rest, dream or re-imagine oneself in order to escape one's circumstances. Within these works, Kutala Firmino focusses on the genetic and social histories of the women in her family. This series of paintings evolved after the artist’s difficulties during pregnancy caused by pre-eclampsia. The condition affects black women at a higher rate due to a range of biological, social and cultural factors, including high-trauma environments. Kutala Firmino considers intergenerational trauma the physical as well as psychological damage this causes to future generations. Through her work, Kutala Firmino begins a process of healing the trauma within her genetic line, eventually escaping the cycle.