Art, music and charity came together on 31st May 2012 at the Battersea Evolution in London for the annual Caudwell Children’s Butterfly Ball.

Attended by celebrities such as the Duchess of York, Princess Beatrice, Peter Andre, Rod Stewart and Amy Childs the event is a fund raiser and typically raises more than £1.5M in a night through auctions and donations.

Under the hammer this year was “Burka Girl” donated by the Kenyan artist Anthony Russell.  A collage of photos collected over twenty years, sienna inks, old Ethiopian silver sun disc and antique iron trade beads set in one layer hot resin in a Meru Oak frame stained with rich mahogany tones and finished with a clear wax polish. Anthony Russell created “Burka Girl” with the intention of creating mystery around a Somali woman with a burka of zebra stripes on her face.

“I wanted to capture the essence of nature and the natural form and flow of woman, beast and life. A vision entangled and set in a collage of my images and old Sudanese iron trading beads balanced with rich African ambers and burnt wood colours. To me the form of woman and wildlife are synonymous with each other and hence the combining force of both in the artwork is a celebration of this unique beauty.” – Anthony Russell – Artist

On the night the piece of art was bought by Mr Duncan Bannatyne a Scottish businessman and philanthropist raising £16,000 for the Caudwell Childrens charity.

Bbeyond review on Anthony Russell artwork sale at Caudwell Children annual butterfly ball