Notes

“My relationship to the medium of paint is a complicated one. Painting and her historical burdens: so many stodgy, stoic canvases by so many important men. What makes contemporary painting particularly interesting for me is a revisionist, humorous approach that can dig at and have fun with historical representations”. ¹

In April 2013 Georgina Gratrix travelled to Germany where she was included on a group show at Galerie Judin curated by Storm Janse van Rensberg, titled the Beautyful Ones. Setting up a studio in the neighbourhood of Schöneberg, Gratrix spent the remainder of that year painting in Berlin where she befriended fellow South African artist Gerda Scheepers and the Romanian painter Adrian Ghenie.

Since the 1920s Schöneberg has been known for its LGBTQ community, with the annual Lesbian and Gay Pride Festival taking place in and around Nollendorfplatz where a memorial plaque stands commemorating the members of the homosexual community who faced persecution during the Holocaust.

Produced in 2013 during her stay in the city, Kiss Kiss is both a testament to this history as well as a contemporary celebration of Berlin’s vibrancy.

1. Georgina Gratrix interview by Emily Friedman, The Editorial Magazine, Issue 14, November 2015, page 62.