Catherine Anyango Grünewald (born 1982, Swedish/Kenyan) is an internationally exhibited artist and lecturer. In 2010 her graphic novel adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness was published to critical acclaim and has been translated into eight languages. In 2018 she illustrated Scandorama, a dystopian Scandinavian graphic novel written by Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo, and her own upcoming graphic novel 2x2 explores the physical effects of guilt and corruption. She is also currently working on a graphic novel adaptation of Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking which will be published by Random House in 2020.
Catherine's drawing work uses the materiality of drawing tools to explore meaning, exploiting the physical properties of pencil and eraser to render events with realism, but to also explore unseen dimensions. Her drawings tackle the historical and contemporary systemic oppression of characters who have been marginalised and underrepresented. The process and labour invested in the work is a direct homage to the subjects, victims of violent domestic or institutional crimes.
In 2019 she was awarded the Navigator Art on Paper Prize, the largest award for work on paper in the world.
Catherine taught at the Royal College of Art in London for ten years and is now a Senior Lecturer in Illustration at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm
contact:
catherine.anyango@network.rca.ac.uk
catherine.anyangogrunewald@konstfack.se
Catherine Anyango is represented by Riflemaker
contact Tot Taylor - tot@riflemaker.org - 07794-629-188
Publications
Heart of Darkness
graphic novel adaptation of the novel by Joseph Conrad
In this deeply atmospheric rendering of Conrad’s classic,we join colonial trader Marlow as he recounts his journey into the heart of Africa. Artist Anyango uses intricate pencil drawings that disintegrate to abstraction as Marlow travels further towards the dying Kurtz and the heart of darkness...
“it is the sensational artwork by Anyango that makes the book…in the crepuscular gloom of her heavy pencil drawings, a pall of grey and sepia with contrasts of black, she catches something potent about the sick heart of colonialism and also about the resilient and unforgiving landscape in which the drama of the impossibility of human redemption unfurls. It is not Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, not quite, nevertheless the visual content is so painstakingly executed, so beautiful, that the pages look as if they’ve strayed in from the world of painting.”
The Times
In Scandorama, the Finnish novelist Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo, who writes in Swedish, and the Kenyan-Swedish artist Catherine Anyango construct a “perfect Scandinavian city.” This utopia, though, is achieved through dystopian means. The ideal population of Stohome (“The clean city. The beautiful people”) has been engineered by scientists at the evil Gentech corporation, with the undesirables—“the rubble of humanity”—banished to the dark side, the grimy, decaying city of Helsingy. With their portrayal of technology in the service of prejudice, Taivassalo and Anyango also represent the social manipulation that needs no scientific intervention to ghettoize “others.”
Susan Harris, Words Without Borders February 2018
Scandorama is a graphic novel published by Förlaget
Crying Out Loud: Ladies' Room
exhibition catalogue
A site-specific exhibition at The Edwardian Cloakroom, Bristol by artists Julie Hill & Catherine Anyango Grünewald. Together their works in materials such as ceramics, cosmetics, smoke and mirrors used
the context of the Edwardian Cloakroom as a mise-en-scène setting, drawing attention to the feminine experience as independent, both spatially and intellectually, from the Gents.
Featuring essays by Dame Marina Warner, Nella Aarne and Dr Farrah Jarral.
Crying Out Loud
exhibition catalogue
Catalogue printed to coincide with exhibition of the same name, held at Guest Projects, May 2012. Work by Catherine Anyango and Julie Hill took on the historical view of women as objects perpetually on the brink of hysteria – dripping with emotion, their bodies ready to overflow, blurring and overriding social norms. Using drawing, film, print, sound, sculpture, soap and water, their individual works together constructed a mise-en-scène that explored the idea of the ‘unacceptable’ manifestations of emotional afflictions by actively playing with the emotions of the viewer.
Featuring essays by Dr. Volker Sommer, Dr Chantal Faust and the Booker shortlisted author Deborah Levy.