BECKWITH KRAFT
(b. 1978 Johannesburg, South Africa)

After emigrating to Zimbabwe in 2008, the vastness of the country and its raw beauty resonated with Beckwith’s love for nature and living wild. Being bound to this volatile, fragile and sometimes savage country, the process of regeneration and degeneration are always starkly noticeable.

The guiding thread of Kraft’s work is the process of decay and renewal in nature. Her work alludes to the small microcosms that are unseen or unnoticed by us, and which are, a perfect reflection of greater cosmic order. This transcends the purely physical process of birth and death and speaks to the Great Mystery of spirit and alchemy – from star dust, to form, to thought, to energy, to magic.

Kraft spent a large part of her childhood living in rural Ireland, exploring ancient oak forests filled with fay legend, and then later in life in remote parts of Botswana and Mozambique. Her retreat into nature as her sacred sanctuary has deeply influenced her work.

Each piece speaks to an appreciation of the exquisite craftsmanship of nature and an honoring of the natural world, from the pattern on a daisy flower to the sculpture of bone beneath flesh. Fear of impermanence, and the transient quality of life echoes in the artist’s work, thus beginning conversations of that unseen world beyond the veil of mortality that reach far beyond our ephemeral lives.

Sustainable living is paramount to looking after our future’s heritage. The ethics of working on animal products are very important to Kraft. None of the animals used in carving were killed for their skulls. The domestic cows were slaughtered for their meat while all game skulls are procured solely from Zimbabwe National Park’s authorised dealers.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

2021
Summer 2021, Everard Read, London, UK

2020
Bronze, Steel, Stone & Bone, Everard Read, London, UK

2019
Winter Collection, Group Show, Everard Read Gallery, Franschhoek, South Africa
Winer Celebration, Group Show, Knysna Fine Art gallery, Knysna, South Africa

2018
Contemporary Sculpture, Group Show, Knysna Fine Art gallery, Knysna, South Africa

2017
20 Year Birthday Celebration, Group Show, Knysna Fine Art gallery, Knysna, South Africa
Summer Exhibition, Group Show, Everard Read Gallery, Franschhoek, South Africa
ART & ENVIRONMENT, Fellini Gallery, Berlin, Germany (100% of the gallery proceeds will go to the environmental organization Greenpeace)
State of the Art, Group Show, Everard Read Gallery, Franschhoek, South Africa

SELECTED COLLECTIONS:

Linthwaite House, Lake District, UK
Leeu Collection, Franschhoek, South Africa