For more than twenty years I’ve been chasing that question. I’ve sent archbishops and fishermen flying off beds, dressed people up as oak trees and sheep, and led retreats that bring people back into their bodies. Now I’m dreaming bigger: rooms drowned in a single color, mountains made of pills and candy. The mediums change. The question doesn’t.
My work is made of color, play, absurdity, participation and scale. Not because those things fix us, but because they interrupt ordinary life long enough for something to wake up.
Selected Work
PLAY JUMP EAT
Photography, 2009–ongoing
We’re all born babies. We all become kids who jump on beds, whether we grow up in a shantytown or a palace. Then we grow into fishermen, suburban mothers and pop stars.
PLAY JUMP EAT began in Cape Town in 2009 with two photographic series. Bed Jump invited hundreds of people, from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to fishermen and church ladies, to go back and jump on a bed. Cape Couture staged fantastical couture with oak trees, shacks, sheep and fish. The work was shown at Cape Town’s Infecting the City public art festival and at Exposure Gallery and Misael Space.
It was always meant to be seen monumental: on facades, in public squares, as big as a city will allow.
Conceived and produced by Kelly Wainwright. Cape Couture photography: Inge Prins and Charley Pollard.
A procession through worlds of saturated color: a farmhouse wrapped in hot pink, a mirrored barn turned silent disco, a milk-white field where cows wear pink fur coats, and a gospel choir to walk you out into the night. Visitors wear white lab coats and move in silence. Sacred meets strange. Designed for open landscapes, museums, or both.
Five monumental environments imagined in candy-colored pills, toilet paper, receipts, Wonder Bread and crumpled cash. A funny, tender, slightly gnarly look at the rituals we use to feel better, and what they really cost.
Both installations are available for exhibitions, festivals and site-specific presentation, as built environments or staged photographic works. Curator packets are on each project page.
Paintings
Original paintings and limited-edition prints. Originals are available directly from the studio. Prints are available through Jasper & Jute, which ships across Europe and Africa.
MoFlo Movement retreats to get you out of your head and back into your body. Next: MoFlo + Surf at El Campo, Baja · Nov 11–15 · 4 spots left Join us →
The Way We Live A podcast with my husband Saul about the in-between spaces. Come sit at our kitchen table with us! We’re not experts. We’re just two people asking questions. It’s messy. It’s curious. It’s human. Listen →
Writing b. Wilder, a book of wild & wide-awake poetic musings — Part offbeat memoir, part modern spellbook. And, stories from the studio and the road on Substack. b. Wilder → Substack →
