Petals of Blood 204 forms part of a larger series of works on canvas included in Kendall Geers’ solo exhibition, In Gozi We Trust (held at Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg in 2019). Through this work, Geers examines the role that fear, paranoia and the threat of danger play in the construction of Johanneburg’s identity. Drawing on classic art historical references, African literature and mythology, Geers fuses symbolism to create images layered with multiple meaning. Fragments of security fences and bullet holes, both recurring motifs in his practice, merge to resemble flowers in a painterly style.
“In Gozi We Trust blends the emotional geography of suburban paranoia with the very real dangers that make Johannesburg one of the most psychologically complex cities in the world to feel safe. The comfort zones of security fences and lavish décor are thrown up against the border that is at once freedom on the one side and a prison on the other”.
— Kendell Geers, 2019
The title of these paintings by Kendell Geers quotes a book by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, a landmark writer of postcolonial African literature. Thiong’o’s writing calls into question the ability to decolonise our minds if we are speaking (and thinking) with the tongue of the coloniser. For Geers, art should be rooted in personal experience that gives the language an accent that liberates the work from the imposition of power relations that are not in favour of the subject.
The paintings in the “Petals of Blood″ series are coupled with another series called “Les Fleurs du Mal” which quotes the banned book of poems by Baudelaire that launched the Modernist era in Paris. The still life paintings are inspired by the photographic series “Garden of Earthly Delights.” The blossoms look like scars, wounds, bullet holes or the Corona virus and appear to be bleeding, reflecting humanity’s tenuous connection to nature and our ecology, replacing historic respect given to our environment with violence.
Petals of Blood 204 forms part of a larger series of works on canvas included in Kendall Geers’ solo exhibition, “In Gozi We Trust” (presented at Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg in 2019). Through this work, Geers examines the role that fear, paranoia and the threat of danger play in the construction of Johanneburg’s identity. Drawing on classic art historical references, African literature and mythology, Geers fuses symbolism to create images layered with multiple meaning. Fragments of security fences and bullet holes, both recurring motifs in his practice, merge to resemble flowers in a painterly style.
“In Gozi We Trust blends the emotional geography of suburban paranoia with the very real dangers that make Johannesburg one of the most psychologically complex cities in the world to feel safe. The comfort zones of security fences and lavish décor are thrown up against the border that is at once freedom on the one side and a prison on the other”.
— Kendell Geers, 2019
Describing himself as an ‘AniMystikAKtivist’, Geers takes a syncretic approach to art that weaves together diverse Afro-European traditions, including animism, alchemy, mysticism, ritual and a socio-political activism laced with black humour, irony and cultural contradiction. By breaking down the classic art historical divide between conceptualism and expressionism, Geers uses his acerbic wit, together with paint, to spin a web of words into images that are layered with multiple meanings.