GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS VISUAL ARTISTS VIA DEPT OF CULTURE

Katanu Kai at Karen Village for the National Visual Artists Symposium and Residency

GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS VISUAL ARTISTS BIG TIME

By Margaretta wa Gacheru

For the very first time, the Kenya government has allocated millions from its Sports, Art, and Social Development Fund to visual artists participating in the Emerging Visual Artists Symposium and Exhibition currently underway at Karen Village.

The program, which Department of Culture Director Dr. Kiprop Lagat says was initiated by the government, also includes a 10-day residency for 40 so-called ‘emerging artists’. As he officially opened the residency and symposium last Thursday, Dr Lagat noted the Fund was created by Parliament back in 2003 but it had barely been used until now.

“After the residency, artists’ works will be curated by Lydia Galavu of Nairobi National Museum where the best will be exhibited from July 8^th to August 8^th at the Museum under the title ‘Renaissance of a Vision’,” says Ndekere Mwaura, Chairman of the Kenya National Exhibitions Organizing Committee.

He further noted that the call to visual artists to apply for the program went out over social media in early May of this year.                                                                                

“Well over 80 artists applied, but we had to hone it down to 40, not necessarily because those not selected weren’t talented,” says Ndekere. “It had to do with balancing a number of criteria. We wanted as many counties represented as possible [there are 11]. We wanted a gender balance, And we also wanted to balance genres of art since we defined several categories, including painting and sculpture as well as mixed media, mosaic, beadwork and jewelry,” he added.

The artists will also have opportunities during the residency to meet with more established artists who will share aspects of their experience and advice with the 40.

Among those who will share are Ndekere who also lectures in Fine art at Kenyatta University, plus several of his agemates like Gikonyo Maina, Etale Sukuro, Kibachi Gatu, Kangara wa Njambi and Gerald Motondi.

Speaking to the 40 during the Launch, Motondi, an award-winning sculptor, said, the residency was just the beginning of a journey that is bound to take them places. He cited numerous countries where his talent as a sculptor had taken him, including China, South Korea, US, and various countries in Europe.

“Don’t think participating in this residency is a small deal,” he said. “It’s a major event for you to exhibit your art at the National Museum,’ he added.

Most of the artists brought a sample of their work to showcase at the launch. Their diversity of styles and skills was wide-ranging. For instance, Katanu Kai, 23, who has already spent a year overseas in art school brought paintings that were so impressive they shared a pride of place next to the speakers’ podium.

In contrast, George Kamiti, 40, a former art student at Kenyatta University, shared ‘paintings’ he made from metallic ‘trash’ which he stitched together with copper wires. He also brought ceramic beads and bead jewelry that he creates in his studio at Art Orodha in Thika.

Stacy Merciana, 24, on the other hand, studied painting and graphic design at University of Nairobi. But what she brought to Karen Village were a series of watercolors.

“I only discovered water colors towards the end of my days at UoN, but I found I really loved working with them,” she told DN Life and Style. “I hope I can get advice from experienced water colorists while I am here,” she adds.

Meanwhile, like many of the 40 selected artists, Eva Mithamo had relatively little formal art training before coming to Karen Village. “I feel I am just starting out,” says Eva who studied at Bobea Art School for a year before going to Sketch Master Art College where she went for just two weeks before coming to Karen Village. In her early 20s, Eva brought her acrylic paintings and looks forward to honest constructive criticism for her artistical growth.

Dennis Kioko is another artist who upcycles people’s trash. In his case, it’s glass wine bottles which he turns into what he calls home décor. “I get lots of bottles from local pubs as well as some from my friends,” he says.

Finally, one young artist at the Launch who didn’t apply for the residency since she is still a student at KU is Maria Gikuru, 25. But coming with her sketch book filled with imaginative pen and ink caricatures, we left the ‘Renaissance of a Vision’ residency feeling that ‘emerging artists’ like these embody a bright future for the growth of Kenya’s visual art community.

AVAC: ARTISTS AND ART COLLECTIVES JOIN HANDS

 

JOHN SIBI OKUMU'S BOOK OF GREAT PLAYS 2004-2014

 COLLECTED PLAYS 2004-2014

By J.E. Sibi Okumu (Posted in Business Daily 25 June 2021)

BOOK REVIEW BY Margaretta wa Gacheru

In John Sibi Okumu’s play ‘Kaggia’, two filmmakers try to devise a screenplay around the life and times of Bildad Kaggia, one of the founders of Kenya’s Land and Freedom Army. One of the two suggests their film’s title could be “Kaggia: Unsung Hero”. But his colleague rejects it, claiming it’s too judgmental and doesn’t reflect everybody’s view of the man. After all, he needlessly died a pauper when he could have enjoyed the spoils of Independence as offered him by Jomo Kenyatta himself.

With the publication of Sibi Okumu’s ‘Collected Plays 2004-2014’, I propose the author be known as Kenya’s Unsung Playwright. But that title might also be rejected by those who don’t agree or say Sibi Okumu is known for being a thespian, but more for having been an actor on television and film than stage. He might even be better known as a director of shows like Eric Wainaina’s off-Broadway musical ‘Mo’ Faya’. And among Kenyans, he might be best known for being the former TV interviewer of famous men on ‘The Summit’.

In fact, until the recent publication of his plays by Jahazi Press, his most enduring renown could be as a remarkable French teacher and interpreter at UN forums.

But it’s the publication of those six major plays which provide evidence that Sibi deserves a pride of place in Kenya’s and Africa’s literary world as a writer of deep insight into the history and everyday life of the people of Kenya.

Perhaps it’s because there is invariably a time lapse between the premiere performances of his plays that the public may not understand the depth, breadth, and subtle wit of Sibi’s plays. But by reading all six, or even just one, the reader will see the artistry, imagination and research that has gone into their creation.

The range of the six plays is diverse, yet there are common threads that run through them all. For one, there is the element of memory d history that features in nearly every play. From the 1982 coup attempt in ‘Meetings’, to the pre-Independence struggle in ‘Kaggia’ to the post-colonial assassinations in ‘Role Play’, Sibi slips Kenyan history into his works. But he never does it in a pedantic or didactic way. It invariably comes out in the context of ordinary people’s life experiences.

The media also plays a role in many of the works. In ‘Minister, Karibu!’, for instance, the story of con-men and corrupt politicians is framed within the context of two media men, one American, the other a Kenyan, who try to tell the news of a supposed Coalition Conference of politicians. Meanwhile, they are missing the real story of daylight robbery by con-men posing as pols inside a rural hotel.

And in ‘Meetings’, Sibi actually assembles sound bites from the time when the coup plotters had seized the National radio and pronounced the country liberated from arap Moi’s tyranny. But once toppled, the radio announcer who had previously praised the coup’s success has to quickly pivot and praise the return of Moi’s status quo.

Issues associated with family are also prevalent in Sibi’s plays. ‘Meetings’ is all about a family reunion that reveals the way big historical events like the 1982 attempted coup disrupted individuals’ lives in deeply personal ways.

The issues of race and identity are threads that run through several of the six. In ‘Elements’ for instance, identity is a central theme of the monologue delivered by a woman writer of mixed racial backgrounds. She tells a friend about how people always try to place her according to her mixed race as if race was the most important aspect of her being.

‘Elements’ is also one play in which a character takes on multiple roles at once. It also happens in ‘Kaggia’ when the filmmakers morph into characters that were key in the former ‘Mau Mau’ leader’s life.

Poetry is another element that Sibi features in his plays. For instance, in ‘Role Play’ it’s not the so-called intellectuals who are the poets. It’s the house help who share their passion for poetry, a passion also had by Sibi.

Finally, his most recent play, ‘Dinner at Her Excellency’s’ is all about a dinner party arranged by a European ambassador who invites opinion makers for supper, aiming to get a crash course in Kenyan politics. Instead, she gets an ear-full of petty opinions which sadly reflect the mentality and personal self-interests that Sibi seems to see as plaguing not just politicians but other sectors of Kenyan society.

 

 

LEMEK'S IDENTITY CRISIS EXPLODES INTO LIVING COLOR

                             MAASAI ARTIST SURPRISES IN LIVING COLOR

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (6.2021)

Lemek Sompoika is one Kenyan artist who is truly full of surprises, starting with his name.

When we received the invitation from Red Hill Gallery to come to the opening of the Maasai artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery, entitled ‘Abstract Patterns’, we wanted to call the Red Hill founder Hellmuth Rossler-Musch and tell him he had unfortunately misspelt the artist’s name.

Thankfully, we restrained ourselves because Hellmuth was correct. It turns out, Lemek had come across his birth certificate and found his family name indeed began with an S, not a T as we had known him previously.

But the name was just the beginning. Having come from the Creative Arts Centre to Kuona Trust in 2013, Lemek’s earliest exhibitions witnessed his working with newspaper collage to make various political statements. But looking back on those days when we first saw his art in Manjano competitions, the man and his art has morphed many times since then.

Where it became really interesting is when he began questioning his identity. Born a Maasai by parents who were early Christian converts, Lemek got an Anglo-name and a Western education but little knowledge of his Maasai heritage.

But once he began inquiring into his indigenous roots, his art began to mirror the mental metamorphosis that the man was personally going through.

The changes have been gradual, up until now. His show, which opened last Sunday, May 30^th, is mind-boggling by comparison to, not only the collage art which he surpassed light years ago. It’s even a grand departure from his first ‘Identity’ series which in black on white, won him attention, both locally when Ogilvy Africa gave him a three-month exhibition in their Nairobi offices, and regionally, when he was deemed a finalist in the Johannesburg-based ‘L’Atelier’ Art Competition.

In ‘Abstract Patterns’ he still works with graphite, charcoal, and pastels. He is also still looking more deeply into his identity and questioning what kind of a man, Maasai, and artist he really is.

Answering these queries with an exhibition that veritably explodes with colors and ‘abstract patterns’, Lemek is still dealing with the issue of an elusive identity which has yet to be fully revealed. Yet one can’t help feeling he has attained a deepened degree of self-awareness. It’s apparent in his dazzling use of color blended with a startling release of black abstract patterns.

“All of these works begin with a human figure and sometimes more than one,” says Lemek who began sketching and “drawing mostly cars” from an early age.

“Drawing was always very personal for me. And even now, I love sketching whenever I can,” he adds. In fact, the exhibition has a whole ‘mini-series’ of single semi-abstract figures of men in motion. All are apparently animated by some strong electrified force that gives each one a life all its own. And even his larger multicolored ‘abstract patterns’ begin with a figure which is subsequently overcoated with charcoal and pastels, blended not with a brush or palette knife but with an erasure!

All of Lemek’s paintings are on paper. All are drawn with charcoal, graphite, and pastels, apart from his latest piece which does away with charcoal altogether and is purely blended pastels. “I think that is the direction I am leaning towards,” he says.

Yet in the past, Lemek admits he had an aversion to color. “I was never big on ‘color theory’,” he says, recalling how he left CAC before he got bogged down with theory. But while researching his Maasai heritage, he became an admirer of the Maasai women and their colorful beadwork.

Then came a gift of high-quality French pastels from Rhodia Mann. The Kenya-born author and designer had inherited the box from her mother Erica who had used them while studying at the Beaux Art in Paris.

“Once I received the box, I went looking for a Kenyan artist who worked with pastels. I knew my mother [a trained architect] would love that idea. And that is how I found Lemek,” she says.

Lemek had indeed been working with pastels prior to meeting Rhodia. But before that he had only drawn in black.

Coming to use color by this circuitous path, Lemek has apparently reached an epiphany. His art has literally come alive at Red Hill. Coincidentally, several his recent paintings are currently on display in Paris alongside works by Onyis Martin and David Thuku. Lemek has also had shows in South Africa, Germany, Australia, and elsewhere in Kenya.

GERALDINE'S UNQUENCHABLE PASSION FOR PAINTING

 PAINTING AS AN UNQUENCHABLE PASSION

                                         Geraldine Robartls with her Love Letters in her Karen Gallery,17 June 2021

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 21 June 2021)

Ever since her granny placed a paint brush in the seven-year-old’s hand, Geraldine Robarts has never stopped painting.

It’s been three-quarters of a century since that fateful day, but her passion for painting has never waned. She may have slowed down to have a family and raise four kids. But even then, they’d go on holiday to the Coast and she’d be painting skies, seas, and village scenes with them close by.

She may have been interrupted by her teaching art at Makerere and Kenyatta Universities. But even then, she was teaching with a brush in hand, and having a learning-by-doing strategy that saw her take her students out to paint and draw everywhere from Kariakor Market and Kitengela Glass to Parliament, Nairobi River and Maasai Mara National Park. And always, she would paint alongside them.

She was vaguely tempted to quit when doctors told her oil paints were bad for her joints. But even then, she said she’d consider shifting to watercolors and pastels, but not acylics since for her they lacked the luminosity and sheen she could only get with oil paints.

The exhibition that Geraldine held this past weekend at her home in Karen revealed that she couldn’t abide by her doctor’s advice. The show is practically all in oils, most dramatically displayed in the gallery she built right next to one of her two studios.

Both studios are also filled with her paintings. But the one next to the gallery is also close to the house so when she feels inspired, she can dash a few steps and get back to work. The other is past the garden, made of two 12-feet tall containers, spaced so there’s a large open tented area in between where Geraldine goes to experiments with her large ideas. It’s also where she invites guest artists to come and work.

                                                                       Geraldine;s early Tree of Life Woodcut

But it is in her living room and dining room that one could get an overview of Geraldine’s whole exhibition, apart from the new works in her gallery. The major themes are all there, the sea, the Coastal villages, turbulent skies, fascinating and brightly colored abstract pieces with some layered in crystals and gold leaf.

In the dining room hung her trees, one created early in her career, the only painted recently which is dramatically different. The first tree was actually a wood cut, simply but elegantly drawn with distinct branches and leaves making a calm, soulful statement. By contrast, her recent tree is thicker, older, weathered without any leaves, and textured with multiple layers of broadly-stroked oil paints. The older tree has burgundy and pink striped bark blended with touches of blue, yellow, and black. It’s surrounded by a sea of green grasses that give it a pride of place.

But it’s in Geraldine’s gallery that one finds a rare collection of her art. It’s as if one huge whirlwind of inspiration hit her to paint what she calls her Lockdown series.

Painted incessantly over the past few months, these dozen paintings reveal a fascinating study in the use of color and design. For most of the works in this white-walled, high-vaulted space, the artist only used a limited range of colors: orange, yellow, red, black, brown, and blue. “Each color represents a different aspect of experience,” says Geraldine, while gesturing toward the first painting in the series.

“This is where I began. Here at the bottom of the piece is the earth, there at the top is the sky, and in between are the people.” She explains the nature of this work that might otherwise pass for abstract.

But then, all the other paintings in this room take on completely different dynamics while using the same color scheme. “This one is a series of letters,” she says explaining the horizonal rows of rectangular boxes, all stacked and each containing a different design inside.

In another work, the background is bright red with bold angular strokes creating an illusion of another tree. Meanwhile, Geraldine says that yet another work is filled with people all moving in the same direction, signifying their unity of purpose. Again, they display the same color combination, only in one work she may give more centrality to one color while in another, the colors will be balanced and bold. Altogether, the room seems to vibrate with the hues as they move around the gallery walls, as if speaking to one another. Geraldine invites us to interact with them too.

TOBIKO DOCUMENTS HIS MAASAI CULTURE VIA ART

                                 MAASAI CULTURE DOCUMENTED IN ART

By Margaretta wa Gacheru

Kenyatta University’s Department of Fine Art and Design finally got an art gallery of its own.

Having gotten by without a permanent gallery since the mid-1960s when the art department was initially set up, it’s been regularly exhibiting students’ artwork, according to Department Chair Adonijah Ombura. Only that the works have been hung in various venues, from the Students’ Business Centre to assorted classrooms depending on available space.

But since 2018 when the International Language and Culture Centre (ILCC) was constructed, thanks to support from the Chinese Confucius Institute, the Art Department finally got the spacious venue it had wished for.

“Anne Mwiti is in charge of the gallery,” says Chairman Ombura, who adds the space will be available to both KU students and faculty as well as the public at large. This latter point is a major departure from past practices which invariably projected an image of the university as an ivory tower far removed from wananchi.

The current exhibition, based on works by Masters’ degree candidates, just opened early this month and runs to the end of June. Both Rupante Tobiko and Patrick Esenerna have done rigorous research to develop the mammoth exhibitions they have put on display. One aims to document his people’s pre-colonial culture using a variety of techniques; the other examines the environment problem of trash and its potential for being transformed into splendid treasures.

Unfortunately, I missed meeting Esenerna. But Tobiko’s exhibition was such a rich multifaceted assortment of both the form and content of a singular theme that I spent my whole morning with him.

Developing a genre of painting that he calls ‘smoke art’, this Maasai man says he grew up playing not with fire but with smoke. “I used to experiment with smoke as a child since I grew up without electricity, only [kerosene-lit] flames,” says Tobiko who was born and brought up by Maasai parents who never went to school.

“But my father valued the education he never had, and sent all seven of his children to school, selling cattle for school fees,” says the artist whose exhibition constitutes not only his final project prior to earning a MFA (Master’s of Fine Art). It’s also the first step in his broader goal of documenting the entirety of Maasai culture.

Growing up in a manyatta and attending most of the traditional ceremonies that Maasai moran typically do, Tobiko says he is comfortable living as a man of two worlds. Nonetheless, his exhibition is focused

 on his people and features smoke paintings, sketches, video, and a catalogue filled with photos and sketches inspired by images of all things Maasai.

But as interesting as are his portraits of Maasai moran decked out in lion manes, ostrich feathers, and brass earrings, what is truly intriguing about his exhibition is his smoke art.

“I conducted 672 experiments working with smoke on various surfaces to see which ones worked best, “ he says, pointing at parts of his video that illustrate that research.”

“I found that smoke works best on surfaces that are smooth and porous,” he explains. “I experimented with everything from paper and cardboard to aluminium foil, canvas, and glass,” he adds.

His exhitibition only has one aluminum-backed painting and one smoke-painted glass. The rest were a mix of smoke on either paper, cardboard or canvas. But he used multiple techniques to create his portraits, including paper-cuts and stencils as well as literally painting using a flame almost as if it were a brush to create dark, smoky effects.

I have to ask how often had he started a fire with his smoke art? Rarely, he says, suggesting his nearly-complete command and control of his flames to create his smoke art.

Tobiko adds that he uses a fixer (or varnish) to ensure his smoke art didn’t get rubbed or smudged. “I left one painting half-fixed so the examiners could see the difference,” he says, touching an unfixed part of that painting to prove how delicate the technique actually is. His fingertip was covered in smoke!

All of Tobiko’s paintings are beautifully mounted, framed, and captioned with relevant details. Nonetheless, he had to explain one moran headdress made with dead birds (stuffed with grass) having beautiful plumes. “They were practicing early forms of taxidermy,” he says.

Clearly taking pride in being a Maasai, Tobiko has felt no conflict about having a Western education but still being deeply rooted in traditional culture.

“I’m committed to documenting as much Maasai culture as I can.”

MASKS OFF: SATIRE ON KENYAN CONMEN AND CONWOMEN

             CAPTIVATED BY CON-MEN AND WOMEN WEARING MASKS

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (margaretta.gacheru@gmail.com)

Liquid Entertainment’s latest production, entitled ‘Masks Off’ and staged last weekend at Kenya Cultural Centre, was an entertaining romp that also sent out a mental health message meant to be taken seriously.

Yet the mental health message was mixed with money, mayhem, political machinations, and masks worn by practically everyone in the play, and scripted by Eric Munene.

Masks notably conceal faces but also people’s hidden motivations. In ‘Masks Off’, it’s easy to see the secret motivations of the corrupt politician Mweshimiwa (Felix Peter) who literally throws money around as a means of obtaining more by devious tricks. It’s even easier to see the masked motives of Dr. Charlie’s ex-girlfriend Deborah (Nora Adisa) whose heart she broke by leaving Charlie (Blaze Mathenge) at the alter to go after the rich politician.

In fact, almost everybody in the play is keeping secrets behind a euphemistic ‘mask’. Ironically, it’s the newly-hired waitress at Drew’s Hotel that seems to see through all the masks.

Drew’s Hotel is where all the action happens in Masks Off and it’s Sophia (Vivian Nyawira) who not only provides the marvelous comic relief in the play. She also has a cunning knack for calling out con-men and women for their scams. It’s practically unimaginable to think that she has the best concealed mask of all, which is only removed at the play’s end.

It’s Sophia who tells off the pregnant beggar bag-lady (Mary Muthee) who scams Drew to get free meals. She also sees the scam being set up at Drew’s by the Mweshimiwa and Charlie. The only clue to Sophia’s personal con-artistry is the way she seems innocent as she seduces Drew into falling for her.

Masks Off can easily be seen as sheer entertainment and comedy. It’s more likely to be listed as a subtle satire since the show critiques everyone from fat-cat corrupt politicians like the Mweshimiwa to slay queens like Deborah. There’s even a swipe at the COVID regulations which set off what mental health experts call the ‘trigger’ that could lead to dire circumstances. Drew is upset because the lockdown rules will kill his small business. This is the reality of many SMEs that have shut down completely due to losing their client-base during the lockdown.

Prior to the pandemic, Drew looked like a kind, compassionate guy who didn’t even seem to mind being conned by the pregnant mama. In fact, he may be the one character in Eric Munene’s scripted play who doesn’t wear a mask. Unfortunately, without that cunning guile, he becomes the most vulnerable to a mental breakdown like what we see at the end of the show.

What’s most peculiar and disconcerting about Masks Off are the two inexplicable characters who open the play. It takes some time to figure out what role they have since they don’t seem to be interacting with anyone character. As it turns out, they are meant to signify conflicting thoughts. But even after that seems to explain their erratic presence in the play, one can’t immediately discern whose thoughts they represent. Whether they are poorly cast or badly scripted, one cannot be sure they are even necessary characters in the story since Drew himself is quite transparent. His intentionality is plain. He’s got no deep dark secrets, only that he wants to succeed in his business.

Okay, the two are meant to reflect Drew’s thought process, with Steve Majestic representing Drew’s good conscience and Stella Napanu representing the bad. Nonetheless, they seem disengaged from their man. They bicker unnecessarily any time they appear. The only time their voices make sense is when they try to counsel Drew during his apparent breakdown. They don’t succeed since the so-called ‘catalyst’ to his breakdown has already arrived in the form of Dr Charlie bringing him a fake ‘official’ letter (part of the rich politician’s thieving scheme) claiming Drew’s Hotel had to be inspected, and if he failed the inspection (carried out by Dr Charlie whom we already know has been bribed) he was to be evicted. After that, the pol would take over his place and build his property empire.

Finally, in Masks Off, it’s the comedy itself that masks the serious issues being addressed in the show. The play do

esn’t preach but it definitely exposes how little things in one’s life can trigger disturbing consequences. In Drew’s case, he becomes a would-be murderer. But Dr. Charlie survives and makes off with millions left behind by Drew and found by the craftiest crook, Sophie.

DADDO AND GRAFFITI ARTISTS' MOVEMENT

                                GRAFFITI ART SPREADS ALL OVER NAIROBI

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted June 20, 2021)

TICAH (Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health) created a wonderful initiative a few years back when they launched Dream Cona at Uhuru Garden and invited local artists to come create communal art works that proved how well visual artists can create collectively.

This past weekend TICAH assembled more young local artists to create murals on another long tall wall, this time in Muthurwa not far from the Railways. Initially, the new initiative was said to be ‘launching’ a graffiti art movement which made me wince.  Graffiti art has been around for more than a decade, with British Council’s ‘WAPI?’ program being one of the first major venues where many now well-established graffiti artists got their start and inspiration.

Graffiti art picked up steam at PAWA254 where guys like Swift9, BSQ and others attracted lots of young blood to ‘intern’ with them and learn by doing, which worked well.

Dust Depo became the next venue where ‘Street Art’ shows invited artists like Kirush, Eljah, Msale, KayMist and B-Thufu to take on the Railway Museum’s extended wall and turn it into a graffiti art extravaganza.

Since then, BSQ transformed old dilapidated railway cars into a marvelous art studio that has wall-to-wall graffiti, both inside and outside the car. The place became another haven for a multitude of graffiti artists.

So to suggest TICAH together with the GoDown, Nairobi Metropolitan Services, and the Safer Nairobi Services were “launching” a graffiti art movement was slightly inaccurate. The GoDown itself was an early venue for graffiti art, with artists like Bank Slave, Smokie, Swift9 and Uhuru B having created a series of wall art portraits, most notably the one at the front entrance of Lupita Nyong’o!

Fortunately, TICAH apparently got the message before many artists had time to protest. In its June newsletter, TICAH replaced the term graffiti art with mural art, which is good. But they still call their initiative an art ‘movement’ which they ‘launched’.

Yet Kenyan artists have been making murals in public places since the 1970s at least. Despite not being well documented, I used to see them in places like the Sarit Centre and Maendeleo ya Wanawake. So it is grand that TICAH and company are taking wall art seriously. Previously, in its earlier iteration, it was called ‘bar art’.

So there definitely is a movement of Kenyan artists who have been at work around the clock for many years, creating wall art, whether it be called mural art or graffiti. It wasn’t ‘launched” in 2021.

One graffiti artist who could be considered part of the graffiti art or mural movement is Daddo (aka Tony Eshikumo). Like many of our leading graffiti artists today, he didn’t go to art school to learn to do graffiti.

“I was initially inspired by matatu art,” he says. After that, he met up with Swift9 who advised him to visit PAWA254. There he met many artists, including Smokillah who took him under his wing and showed him basic elements of graffiti painting.

An artist who, like many graffiti guys, is always looking for fresh walls on which to paint, Daddo says he has been painting a lot in Korogocho in recent times. His most acclaimed wall mural is the series of portraits that he made of the record-breaking runner Kipchoge.

Since then, Daddo has been busy practicing his art everywhere from Mathare and Baba Ndogo to Garden City and Capital Centre.

But the most recent wall art that Daddo has done is one he created with fellow graffiti artist Ibra (aka Ibrahim Ndungu) and in collaboration with the brand new Sanaa Center.

“The Sanaa Center was created by two musicians, who want to address problems affecting Mathare people most urgently. But they want to do it through art,” says Daddo as he takes us to the wall where he and Ibra recently complete graffiti with a powerful message.

“The founders of the Sanaa Center [Micko Migra and Anthem Republic] wanted us to create graffiti that expressed their concern about the high cost of health care,” says Daddo.

“The prices of drugs have shot sky high. Yet most people here can’t even afford to buy masks,” he adds.

Acknowledging that their mural was a joint effort, he says he’s been deliberating with Micko, Anthem, Ibra, and the graffiti project director Kid October (aka John Mwaura) since the Sanaa Center was launched last November.

“It’s meant to send a clear message,” says Daddo who has already found that locals stop, see, and agree with the message on the wall.

“There is need for equality in [Kenya’s] health care system. People here can’t even afford pain killers, leave alone vaccines, hand sanitizers, or masks,” Daddo says. “They need help.”