Beth Ganz
Mount Kenya, Kenya — from the series Axis Mundi , Contemporary
2020

$1,400List Price

About the Item

Beth Ganz, 'Mount Kenya, Kenya', copperplate photogravure etching, edition 10, 2020. Signed, titled, and numbered 6/10 in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression in warm black ink, on cream, wove, cotton rag paper; the full sheet in excellent condition. Archivally sleeved, unmatted. Image size 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches; sheet size 16 x 15 1/2 inches. From the artist's series of 64 photogravure etchings 'Axis Mundi'. Additional works from the series are available; please inquire. Exhibited: 'Photography in Ink, A Look at Contemporary Copper-Plate Photogravure,' Curated by Leandro Villaro, Penumbra Exhibition Space Gallery, Nov 30, 2022 - March 15, 2023. ABOUT THE IMAGE Mount Kenya (Kikuyu: Kĩrĩnyaga, Kamba, Ki Nyaa) is an extinct stratovolcano in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (5,199 meters or 17,057 feet), Nelion (5,188 m or 17,021 ft), and Point Lenana (4,985 m or 16,355 ft). Mount Kenya is located in the former Eastern and Central provinces of Kenya; its peak is now the intersection of Meru, Embu, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, and Tharaka Nithi counties, about 16.5 kilometers (10.3 miles) south of the equator, around 150 km (90 mi) north-northeast of the capital Nairobi. Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Republic of Kenya. Mount Kenya is a volcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African Rift. Before glaciation, it was 7,000 m (23,000 ft) high and covered by an ice cap for thousands of years, resulting in eroded slopes and numerous valleys radiating from the peak. There are currently 11 small glaciers, which are shrinking rapidly and may disappear by 2050. Mount Kenya is the main water catchment area for two large rivers in Kenya; the Tana, the largest river in Kenya, and the Ewaso Nyiro North. The Mount Kenya ecosystem provides water directly to over 2 million people. The rivers on Mount Kenya have been named after the villages on the slopes of the mountain that they flow close to. The Thuchi River is the district boundary between Tharaka Nithi and Embu. Mount Kenya is a major water tower for the Tana River, which in 1988 supplied 80% of Kenya's electricity using a series of seven hydroelectric power stations and dams. Mount Kenya is important to each of the four ethnic communities living around it, all of which formed in the area in the last several hundred years. The main ethnic groups are Kikuyu, Ameru, Embu, and Maasai, the first three closely related. All groups believe the mountain to be sacred and revere it as an important aspect of their cultures. The Kikuyu living on the southern and western sides of the mountain are agriculturalists and make use of the highly fertile volcanic soil on the lower slopes. They believe that God, Ngai or Mwene Nyaga, lived on Mount Kenya when he came down from the sky and that the mountain is Ngai's throne on earth, 'God's Resting Place' or 'Where God Lives'. It is the place where Gĩkũyũ, the father of the tribe, used to meet with God. Thus according to the Kikuyu records, Gĩkũyũ is the first person on Earth to ascend the mountain. The snow caps of the mountain symbolically represent a crown on God's habitation. Kikuyu traditionally built their houses with doors facing the mountain. The Kikuyu name for Mt. Kenya is Kĩrĩnyaga which literally means ‘the one with the ostrich’. The ostrich has black or brownish–grey feathers with patches of white. The Kikuyu attributed an ostrich's likeness to an object that was dark-colored with white patches. Kĩrĩnyaga figuratively means ‘the one with white patches’, referring to the glaciers among the peaks of the mountain. Translated to the Kamba language, kĩrĩnyaga, is ki nyaa— the name that Ludwig Kraph, a German missionary and explorer, was given when he sighted the mountain from Kitui (in Kamba country). He recorded it as Kenya, and it became the name of not only the mountain but also the country. The Embu people live southeast of Mount Kenya and believe the mountain is God's home (the Embu word for God is Ngai or Mwene Njeru). The mountain is sacred, and they build their houses with the doors facing toward it. The Ameru occupy the east, north, and north-western slopes of the mountain. They are generally agricultural and also keep livestock and occupy what is some of the most fertile land in Kenya. The Meru god Murungu was from the skies. Their name for Mt. Kenya is Kirimara, which means 'mountain with white features'. The Maasai are semi-nomadic people who use the land north of the mountain to graze their cattle. They believe their ancestors came down from the mountain at the beginning of time. The Maasai name for Mount Kenya is Ol Donyo Keri, which means 'mountain of stripes', referring to the dark areas observed from the surrounding plains. A Maasai prayer refers to Mount Kenya as follows, “God bless our children, let them be like the olive tree of Morintat, let them grow and expand, let them be like Ngong Hills like Mt. Kenya, like Mt. Kilimanjaro and multiply in number.” Mount Kenya National Park, established in 1949, protects the region surrounding the mountain. Currently, the national park is within the forest reserve which encircles it. In April 1978, the area was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The national park and the forest reserve, combined, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The park receives over 16,000 visitors per year. ABOUT THE SERIES 'AXIS MUNDI' "This body of work focuses on satellite images of sacred mountains around the world—places where heaven and earth are thought to meet. The phenomenon of revering mountains as holy sites is an archetype found in many cultures. "This shared experience finds a visual echo in the ubiquity of images of the earth that are now available to any person with a computer and an Internet connection. What does the specificity of place mean when we can move across the surface of the earth in seconds and reduce everything to a series of pixels? To me, this process recalls abstract painting, which transforms the specific into gesture and form. Rather than treat digital technology as necessarily destructive to human meaning and experience, my work offers new ways of seeing that are reconcilable with the old. To this end, I combine 19th Century Photogravure technique with 21st-century surveillance captures. "Axis Mundi consists of 64 copperplate photogravures. The work is laid out in a grid, an arbitrary conversion of the visual world into a flat space that happens both on the picture plane and in the data processing. The title refers to the belief in a 'world center,' often conceived of as a mountain: a place where communication between higher and lower realms is possible. This project is a search for such a center in a world of decentralization and fragmentation." —Beth Ganz ABOUT THE ARTIST Beth Ganz is a contemporary American multidisciplinary visual artist, who lives and works in New York City. She graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA (honors) in Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking. The focus of her work is the intersection of landscape, digital technology, and abstraction. Ganz works in paint, brush, and ink drawing, both independently and alongside digital and analog printing techniques, including photogravure and intaglio printing. Ganz’s work has been the subject of many solo exhibitions, including 'Atlas Project' at Cynthia-Reeves Gallery, 'Up Close and Far Away, Grids and Toiles: Beth Ganz at Wave Hill House,' Wave Hill, and 'Geothermal Topographies' at Reeves Contemporary. She has been shown in numerous group exhibitions, and her work is represented in many public and private collections, including the 9-11 Memorial Museum, the Library of Congress, the New York Historical Society, and the New York Public Library Prints Collection. Ganz teaches workshops in photogravure and intaglio at Manhattan Graphics Center and has been a long-time grantee of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES 2018 – Signal: Tri-State Juried Exhibition (2nd Place), Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York (Juror: Lumi Tan) 2001-2014 – Studio Program, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY 2005 – Johnson Johnson Purchase Prize, 48th Annual National Print Exhibition, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ 1999 – Prints USA Juror’s Award, Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, MO 1993 – 37th Annual National Print Exhibition (Honorable Mention), Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, NJ 1992 – Small Impressions 1992 (Juror’s Award), Printmaking Council of New Jersey, NJ BIBLIOGRAPHY: MAGAZINES, JOURNALS, NEWSPAPERS, AND ONLINE MEDIA 2018 – Mary Legrand, “A Signal of Invention,” Bedford Record, July 2018 2017 – Sara Mintz, “Profile of an Artist: Beth Ganz,” Journal of the Print World, Vol. 40, #4, October 2017 2017 – Cate McQuaid, “Critics’ Picks, The Ticket: Music, Theater, Dance, Art and more,” Boston Globe, May 2017 4, 2017 2017 – Beth Ganz, “New Prints: Beth Ganz and the Atlas Project Landscape,” Journal of the Print World, I Vol. 40, #3, July 2017 Collections: Duke Energy, Charlotte, NC; Evelyn Lauder Breast Center at SKMCC, New York, NY; Frost Bank, Houston, Texas; Hofstra Museum, Hofstra University; Johnson and Johnson Corporate Collection, NJ; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; New York Historical Society; New York Public Library Prints Collection; Norwegian Cruise Lines Corporation (Commission for the BLISS Cruise Ship); NYU Langone Health, New York, NY; Permanent Collection of the US Consulate, Cape Town, South Africa; Squib Corporation Collection, NJ; 9-11 Memorial Museum, New York, NY; Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Collection, New York, NY; United States Embassy Permanent Collection, Tbilisi, Georgia; Universal Studios, Los Angeles, CA; US Department of State, Art Bank Program, Washington, DC.

Creator:
Beth Ganz
Creation Year:
2020
Dimensions:
Height: 10.5 in (26.67 cm)Width: 10.5 in (26.67 cm)
Medium:
Etching,Photogravure
Movement Style:
Contemporary
Period:
21st Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Myrtle Beach, SC
Reference Number:
Seller: 1041501stDibs: LU532311372602

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