With a practice steeped in historical and contemporary socio-cultural references intended to inform, entertain and challenge, Kimathi Donkor is considered a master painter in the digital age. His paintings play on the codes of visual pleasure, while presenting complex political and historical conundrums. Drawing on historical conventions of figurative portraiture and composition, Donkor typically addresses contemporary concerns and events, from urban conflict in London to the adventures of Ghana’s anti-colonial heroine, Yaa Asantewaa.

Donkor’s solo exhibitions include Daddy, I want to be a black artist at Peckham Platform in London, in 2013, and Queens of the Undead at Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) in London, in 2012. Group exhibitions include What’s Going On at the Usher Gallery in Lincoln, UK, in 2013-2015, and the 29th São Paulo Biennial at the Ciccillo Matarazzo pavilion in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2010. He is currently completing a practice-led Ph.D at Chelsea College of Art and Design, researching Africana in the Tate’s collection of British Art.