Ann Mary Gollifer

DATE OF BIRTH: 27/7/1960

RACE: HUMAN

NATIONALITY: BRITISH

HOME LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

HIGHER EDUCATION:

1983 Edinburgh University, MA. History of Art

TITLE OF DISSERTATION:

GAUDIER BRZESKA, His sculptural development 1912 to 1914

Ann Gollifer is a visual artist whose practice includes painting, print-making, writing and photography. She has lived and worked in Botswana since 1985 and is a permanent resident of the country. In 1983, Ann graduated from Edinburgh University with a Masters degree in History of Art. She worked as a Senior Technical Officer, at the National Museum and Art Gallery, Gaborone, under the Directorship of its founder, Alec Campbell. During this period she also worked part-time at the Phuthadikobo Museum in Mochudi with Sandy Grant, the Museum's founder and director. From 1991 to 2001 she was part of the committee, involved with the administration and facilitation of the Thapong Triangle International Artist’s workshops that took place in Botswana, as well as the many smaller off-shoot art workshops that were organized annually by the Thapong committee. An Artist member of the Thapong Visual Art Centre, Gaborone, Ann was part of the executive committee, responsible for the building of the centre.

“In 1989 there was a group of visual artists in Botswana that came together to form a team led by Veryan Edwards. Veryan pioneered the concept of the international artists workshops in Botswana, under the auspices of the Triangle International Artists Workshops, initiated by Robert Loder. These workshops ran from 1989 to 2002. From 1989 to 1995 the workshops involved an annual gathering of artists from all over the world together with a core group of artists living and working in Botswana. Apart from this annual international workshop, the team also organised smaller workshops throughout the year. Established artists led these smaller workshops, many coming from the Triangle network in South Africa with the support and facilitation of local artists in Botswana.

The workshops were perfect venues for sharing ideas about why we make art, in terms of concept and origination and how we go about making it in terms of technique and materials. They were also fertile ground for building friendships between artists that in some cases have lasted a lifetime. The workshops were also important spaces for networking on an international level.

Artists from Botswana, both Batswana and non-Batswana resident artists were encouraged to attend both regional and international workshops and residencies. There were residency venues in South Africa, The Bag factory in Johannesburg, Greatmore Studios in Cape Town and the Gas Works in London. There were workshops like Tupelo in South Africa, Pachipamwe in Zimbabwe, Tulipamwe in Namibia, Mbile in Zambia, Thapong in Botswana. The network stretched across the world from the USA, Canada to the UK and all the way to Australia.

This initiative eventually led to the building of the Thapong Visual Art Centre. Thapong is where I met artists from all over the world, who taught me how to think about and how to make artwork in new and exciting ways. There is no better teacher for an artist than another artist. Thapong provided the networks I needed to start my journeys here at home and eventually across borders. I met the wonderful Cameroonian artist Goddy Leye, Lutanda Mwamba and Baba Jaak, Zambian print-maker, sculptor and performance artists, the British painter Vanessa Jackson, and Diana Hyslop, Pat Mautloa and David Koloane, Johannesburg and so many others whose influence and support has made me the artist I am.

One of the main reasons that I decided to work within the visual arts was because the discipline offered a space where difference must mingle in order to create relevant current dialogues.”

Ann currently works from her studio space in Gaborone. 

She is the co-founder, with Maipelo Gabang, of the Art Residency Centre, Gaborone, Botswana. Ann is Vice Chairperson of the centre, running it with the support of a dedicated executive and board. The Art Residency Centre is an artist led initiative that offers space to creatives in the community and with them develop new platforms for the dissemination of their work. As well as being a physical entity, the Art Residency Centre is also a flourishing virtual space where artists from all fields, can meet to network and exchange ideas, both nationally and internationally.

Ann considers the work she does with the Art Residency Centre an important extension of her studio practice. 

Works in Public Collections

The Pas Collection, Antwerp, Belgium

The Unisa Art Gallery Collection, Pretoria, South Africa

The Sainsbury Africa Galleries, The British Museum, London, UK

The Triangle International Art Workshops, New York, USA

The Alliance Francaise, Johannesburg, South Africa

The National Museum, Gaborone, Botswana

The Thapong International Art Workshop, Gaborone, Botswana

The Mbile Art Collection, Lusaka, Zambia

Botswana Life Insurance LTD, Gaborone, Botswana

Bank of Botswana Art Collection, Gaborone, Botswana

Published Work

Views in the interior of Guyana

Video: Book reading by Ann Mary Gollifer, at ARC (Art Residency Centre) in Gaborone / Botswana. Date 3 February 2022.

Men with Tales - a collection of stories from the Guides of the Okavango Delta, fully illustrated with watercolour and koki pen. Published by EGGSSON BOOKS. Gaborone. 2015. ISBN9789996803581

A frog in her throat - an illustrated children’s storybook, published in French and English editions by Snow Moon Editions, France 2015. ISBN979-10-91596-10-7 and ISBN979-10-91596-09-1 respectively.

2012 CONCEPT a forum for creativity - Ann Gollifer was the editor of this quarterly magazine, published for the first time in Botswana in April 2012.

I don't know why I was created. DADA, Coex'Ae Qgam - by Ann Gollifer and Jenny Egner. A biography/portrait of Coex ae Qgam, Ncoekhoe painter of the Kuru Art Project, D'Kar, Botswana. Published by EGGSSON BOOKS. Gaborone. 2011. ISBN978-99912-938-1-3

Africa e Meditarraneo- n. 3-4/09 (69-700 Aprile 2010 African Fashion: containing article "Urban Camouflage Street Safaris” By Ann Gollifer

The Nata Baobab - written and illustrated by Ann Gollifer. BOTSALANO PRESS, Gaborone, 2004. ISBN99912-531-5-7

Commissions

2009 Carter's suit, New York, USA. A commission to make a personalised suit for Carter Foster, the Curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art, to wear to the Burning Man Festival 2010.

2009 Paul Harris commission, JOHANNESBURG - large scale wall panel; 30x300x300mm stretched canvases. Portrait of a family.

2008 "The Maitisong Dancers", mild steel and aluminium wall sculpture, 12 metres in length x 4 metres in height. Maitisong Theatre Entrance, Gaborone, Botswana

2006 The Donor windows, Entrance, Princess Marina Hospital, Gaborone, Botswana 

Video & Web Links

Views in the interiors of Guyana: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGE_P2WAZU

Ann Mary Gollifer Artist Statement 2020/21: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANRakcX1BlM

Ann Gollifer Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Gollifer

Selected Shows

2023 A Sum of Days, a solo exhibition at Ed Cross Fine Art London

2023 ARCO LISBOA Art Fair, Lisbon, Portugal with Guns and Rain Johannesburg

2022/23 Investec Art Fair Cape Town with Guns and Rain Johannesburg

2021   1-54 London, with Guns and Rain Johannesburg

2020 Caribbean Confluences- UNTITLED MIAMI2021with Guns and Rain

2020 FNB Art Fair Johannesburg with Guns and Rain Johannesburg

2020 CARBO ANIMALIS solo show with Guns and Rain Johannesburg

2020 INVESTEC art fair Cape Town with Guns and Rain Johannesburg

2019 LATITUDES art fair Johannesburg with LL Editions Johannesburg

2019 FNB art fair Johannesburg with BKhz Gallery Johannesburg

2019 INVESTEC art fair Cape Town with Guns and Rain Johannesburg

2019 LOVE IS exhibition at the BKhz Gallery Johannesburg

2018 AKAA-ALSO KNOWN AS AFRICA, PARIS art fair with Guns and Rain

2017 ARTAFRICA FAIR, CAPE TOWN, an exhibition of work by Ann Gollifer and Jo Rogge curated by THE GUNS AND RAIN GALLERY.

2017 OMANG @ THE AVA GALLERY, CAPE TOWN, an exhibition of lino print and embroidery on fabric by Ann Gollifer and leadwood and marble sculpture by Shepherd Ndudzo.

2015 OMANG? – “Who are you?” a solo exhibition at Sophie Lalonde Art, Gaborone, lino and embroidery on fabric, exploring concepts of belonging through gender and politics.

2012 BRANDED - a solo exhibition of mono-prints at the Frame Gallery, Gaborone, Botswana.

2011 LIVING ON AN HORIZON. A TRIBUTE TO BESSIE HEAD - Solo exhibition of paintings at Circa on Jellicoe, The Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg.

2010 WHAT AM I DOING HERE? KE DIRANG HA? - Solo show: July, BICHA Gallery, Gabriel's Wharf, South Bank, London.

2009 GODDESSES AND SUPER HEROES - An exhibition of new work at the Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg.

2008 WORD - a collaborative exhibition of paintings, drawings, and collage from 4 Artists: Ann Gollifer, Sedireng Mothibatsela, Steve Jobson, and Monica Mosarwa, at the Grahamstown festival, The Monument.

2006 LINHAS DE SANGUE, TERRITORIES OF THE HEART - a solo exhibition, Museu Nacional de Arte, Maputo, Mozambique.

2002 MONOMOTAPA - residency exhibition at the Fordsburg Studios, Johannesburg.

2001 HOCHE KOCHE - a multimedia performance, originated, designed and co-produced by Ann Gollifer with Steve Dyer, musician and composer, Johannesburg and the Tumbuka Dance Company, Harare. The performance premiered in Harare at HIFA and then toured: Gaborone, The Grahamstown Festival, and the Dance Festival in Avignon, France.  It toured France in 2002 and returned to the WITS theatre in Johannesburg for the 2002 Dance Umbrella.

2000 THREE WOMEN THREE PERSPECTIVES - an exhibition of new work by Ann Gollifer, Coex ae Qgam (Dada), and Neo Matome that traveled to Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Windhoek and Gaborone; funded and hosted by the Alliance Francaise, Botswana.

Residencies

Sacatar Foundation, Bahia State, Brazil 2024

IASPIS RESIDENCY, Stockholm, Sweden, 2018

Fordsburg Artist' Studios, The Bag Factory, Johannesburg, 2002.

International Workshops

British Art Now(BAN) curatorial forum, London/Manchester UK 2023

NAMDEB, Artists retreat StArt, Namibia 2022

THAPONG, Botswana 1991, 1993, 2001

MBILE, Zambia, 1998

TUPELO, South Africa, 2000

TRIANGLE, New York, USA, 2008

Galleries

Ann Gollifer is represented by the Guns and Rain gallery, Johannesburg