Pemba, George

Bobbie Burgers is a contemporary Canadian painter. Her lush and Expressionistic depictions of flowers teeter on the verge of abstraction, bursting with bright color and laden with thickly applied, textural paint. “Flowers, to me, are the opposite of still,” the artist has explained. “Changing from minute to minute, they are perfect symbols for life, death, yearning, and beauty. My brushstrokes are layered with my own internal charges, depicting anger, frustration, softness, wanting, and more.” Born in 1973 in Vancouver, Canada, she studied Art History at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Her work has been exhibited widely at home and abroad, notably including Art Market San Francisco and Equinox Gallery. Today, her works are in the collections of the Berost Corporation in Toronto and the Royal Bank of Canada, among others. Burgers lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.

Pemba, George

Born: 1912 Hill’s Kraal, Korsten, Port Elizabeth

A painter of figures, portraits and of rural and urban genre. Works in watercolour, chalk and oil.

Studies: 1931 watercolour classes for two weeks at the University of Fort Hare; 1937 a short course at Rhodes University under Professor Austin Winter Moore. 1937 and 1947 gained a scholarship from the Fort Hare Africa Trust.

Profile: Trades as a General Dealer.

Exhibitions: He has participated in group exhibitions in Port Elizabeth; 1979 Contemporary African Art in SA, touring; 1986 Alliance Francaise, Pretoria, Historical Perspective of Black Art in SA Exhibition.

Represented: University of Fort Hare

References: BSAK 1&2; 3Cs; Sheila Keeble,

The Black Who’s Who of Southern Africa Today. 1979/1982, African Business Publications, Johannesburg; Contemporary African Art;

Echoes of African Art; SA Panorama March 1977

Prophetess

Oil on canvas Signed "MMPEMBA"; Dated 34.9 x 26.6 cm

Mother and Child

Water Colour on Gouache Signed and Dated 55 Inscribed with Title on Reverse 46 cm x 37 cm

The Arrest of Steve Biko

Oil on Board Signed and Dated 87 46.5 cm x 63.5cm

The Arrest of Steve Bilko

This allegorical painting by George Pemba was painted a decade after the death in detention of Black Consciousness leader, Stephen Bantu Biko, on 12 September 1977. According to Pemba, he had thought about painting his work for many years as he had been deeply affected by the death of Biko. While he felt that Biko had died in more gruesome and sinister circumstances, he was reminded of a scene he had witnessed outside his home in the 1930s when he saw a mounted BSAP policeman orchestrating the arrest of a 'criminal'. The sense of injustice he felt then manifested itself in this depiction of oppression. When the biography of his life, Against All Odds, was being compiled by Sarah Hudleston, Pemba, who was in his late 70s, told the author that he called the painting Arrest, Police and Slaves. Hudleston later discovered that the painting had been exhibited with the title, The Arrest of Steve Biko. Providing a good likeness of Biko's face, the painting conveys Pemba's sense of outrage at the brutal death of a great leader. - Strauss & Co, March 17, 2014 Auction Catalouge