The Rind.

One sharp read on the African contemporary art market

Stories, provenance and market intelligence. Auction insight and real data. Every Saturday, one issue.

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01 · What you’ll find inside The Rind

Fact first, judgement second

01
Stories
One artist, one work, read closely. The making, the sitters, the room it was painted in.
02
Provenance
Ownership, exhibition and literature, stage by stage, with the papers behind each line.
03
Market intelligence
Turnover, movers and price bands from the salerooms we clear. No forecasts, only records.
04
One number explained
A single figure from the week, sourced and put in proportion.

02 · Provenance

Understand the journey behind every artwork.

Documented ownership, exhibition history, publications and supporting records, dated, sourced and checkable. Where a record is missing, we say so.

What we hold

Documented artworks
Chains verified end to end
Open questions published
Records kept current

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03 · Featured artist

This issue

Painter, JohannesburgProvenance verified

Penny Siopis

Imaging

1989 · Pastel on paper · 76.5 × 56 cm

Medium: Pastel on paper
Dimensions: 76.5 × 56 cm, excluding frame
Signed: Yes
Lot: 560
Sale: South African Art, Jewellery and Decorative Arts, Paintings Evening Sale
Venue: Johannesburg
Estimate: ZAR 40,000 to 60,000 · USD 4,473 to 6,710
Realised: ZAR 668,400 · USD 74,747

Source: Strauss and Co catalogue, Lot 560, 4 February 2013. Rand converted at 0.11183, the ZAR rate on the sale date.

Penny Siopis' Imaging explores themes of memory, identity, and representation through richly layered pastel compositions. Created during a pivotal period in her career, the work reflects her engagement with historical imagery, feminist discourse, and the complexities of personal and collective memory. Drawing on fragments of art history, photography, and visual culture, Siopis constructs a dynamic surface where figures, symbols, and shifting forms emerge and recede, inviting multiple interpretations. Rather than presenting a fixed narrative, Imaging encourages viewers to navigate an evolving visual landscape in which history, perception, and emotion intersect.

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04 · Provenance timeline

Imaging · 5 stages

Stage 01 of 05 · Created

Completed in the studio

Date: 1989
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Source: Artist record

Imaging was completed in 1989 as part of Penny Siopis' celebrated pastel drawings exploring representation, history and identity. The work developed from ideas first explored during her Paris residency and the subsequent Pictures within Pictures exhibition at Goodman Gallery in 1987.