Keetah Konstant

Keetah Konstant is a Scottish-South African artist. She utilises painting, printmaking, drawing, and sculpture to communicate her ideas. She explores socio-economic and political themes, specifically offering strong criticism of capitalism and its detrimental effects on human life and the environment. Through this body of work, she is examining the suffering caused by global exploitation and imperialism through the extraction of natural resources. She then links it back to the cost-of-living crisis in the UK, utilising imagery of forgotten, abandoned, and aged objects as symbolism for economic realities. Through this, she shows how with financial input, domestic objects can provide us with warmth, light, and sustenance. Without it, they will rot. Throughout, she reminds the viewer that financial gain is currently the pervasive motivator in matters concerning often the most crucial and basic human necessities. She consistently returns to a distinctive illustrative style, using dark and muted colours along with tongue-in-cheek symbolism. Through her work, she strives to bridge the gap between the fine art world and grassroots community organising, activism, and direct action to encourage material change.