RASHID’S PASSION FOR PRINTMAKING REVEALED

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 21 November 2022) Rashid Diab was the first in a stream of brilliant Sudanese artists who came flooding into Kenya from the early 1990s. He has been a way-shower ever since. Experimenting with technical skills that he’s acquired and mastered over the years, it is his awesome etchings that have come to Nairobi’s Red Hill Gallery in an exhibition entitled ‘A Trajectory of Etchings – 1980-2000’. A trip up to Hellmuth and Erica Rossler-Musch’s ever green gallery is well worth the trek, if for no other reason than to meet two of the most hospitable art-lovers around. But then, to see the Gallery’s pearly white walls covered in a rich array of Rashid’s colorful etchings is all the more reason to come and see.

They are mainly abstract works, but one can see so many influences surfacing through his swirls of colors, two-dimensional lines, and calligraphic curves that disclose his Sufi upbringing. There are more than 50 etchings, all of which are beautifully framed and displayed in geometric clusters of both miniature gems of genius dressed in sepia and ochre ink as well as larger works suggesting symbolic forms such as are found in northern Sudan, in the ancient murals of Meroetic and Kush civilizations.

The venerable Sudanese artist flew in from Khartoum specially for his exhibition opening last Sunday, November 20th, having been preceded by his son Yafil, who prepared the way for Nairobi to see facets of his father’s art other than the style of painting that he is currently passionate about and which we have seen in recent exhibitions of his work in places like Tribal Gallery, One Off, and Gravitart. “We met Yafil more than a year ago when he came and suggested that we have an exhibition of his father’s etchings,” Hellmuth told BDLife shortly before the exhibition opened. “We were impressed with the etchings, especially as they cover a span of 20 years, but we couldn’t hold the exhibition until now,” he added.

There had been many steps involved in bringing Yalif’s idea to fruition, especially as he had to return to Khartoum and the process of curating the show had to proceed online. The fact that none of the etchings had ever been seen before in Kenya made the preparation process all the more exciting for Hellmuth who relished the challenge. But once he’d selected his favorites from the hundreds that Yalif had shared, Hellmuth insisted on framing all but ten of them to show them in their best light. “My father was impressed to see the exhibition as he had never seen so many of the works shown so well in one space,” Yalif said. Rashid himself hadn’t actually discovered his passion for printmaking, and specifically for etching until he was introduced to the technique in Spain, at the Complutense University of Madrid where he had been awarded a fellowship to attend. That discovery led to his getting advanced degrees in both painting and etchings, including a Ph.D.

But after years of working as a scholar and university professor in the field of fine art, he felt compelled to return to his homeland where he has been sharing his knowledge, skills, wisdom, and experience with his fellow Sudanese ever since. Since 2000 when he returned to Khartoum, he established the Dara Art Gallery. And several years after that, the Rashid Diab Art Centre was borne. “As we don’t have a national art gallery in Sudan, the Centre has played an important role,” Yalif said. It has also given Rashid the visibility required for the world to recognize both his talent and his leadership role in the arts of Sudan. For instance, he has won the King Juan Carlos of Spain award for Excellence in Service. He has also won ambassadorial status from the Japanese and the British governments for his concern for peace and the environment. He’s also exhibited his art all over the Middle East and Europe. So, while he hasn’t lost his passion for printmaking, he had to put it on hold while shifting artistically as well as socially and culturally from his Spanish to his Sudanese circumstance. “I’m concerned about the role of women in our society, which is why they appear so frequently in my art,” Rashid told BDLife at the opening of his first solo exhibition at Red Hill.

But it is thanks to his son, who discovered hundreds of his etchings while archiving his father’s art that we have the opportunity to see this treasure trove of an earlier phase of Rashid’s artistic ‘trajectory.’

WHAT’S ON IN NAIROBI November 24th onward

WHAT'S ON IN NAIROBI NOW THEATRE: *‘Speak their Names’ by Silvia Cassini at Peponi Primary Auditorium, Westlands, November 25&26. *Derrick Waswa’s ‘Red Flags’ at Alliance Francaise, November 27, 2pm, 4pm, and 6pm. *Too Funny Production presents ‘Maternity Call’ at Kenya Cultural Centre’s Ukumbi Mdogo, November 26, 3pm and 6pm. DANCE *Dance Centre Kenya presents ‘The Nutcracker’ at Kenya National Theatre, November 25, 26, 27 and December 3&4. VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITIONS *Rashid Diab’s ‘A Trajectory of Etchings’ at Red Hill Gallery. Free entry, weekends. *‘The Forest and Desert School Revisited’ at Circle Art Gallery, James Gichuru Rd. *Ehoodi Kichapi’s solo exhibition opening Saturday, November 26 at noon at One Off Gallery, Rosslyn. *Shabu Mwangi’s ‘Winter Memories’ at Gravitart Gallery, Westlands. *‘Mwili, Akili,na Roho: figurative painting from East Africa’ at NCAI. *’’Under her eye’ by Migwa Nthiga & Pie Herring at Matbronze Gallery, Langata. LAUNCH *Kenya Arts Diary 2023 launch on Thursday, 5pm at King’s Post, Westlands, 5pm. Free entry.

NUTCRACKER BALLET BACK WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (Posted 21 November 2022) Performing ‘The Nutcracker’ at Christmas time is a tradition shared among nearly all the ballet dance companies around the world. It’s certainly what Cooper Rust, the artistic director and founder-mother of Dance Centre Kenya (DCK) did in South Carolina, USA, from the time she was age three. That is why DCK is continuing the tradition over the next two weekends at Kenya National Theatre. There will be a number of significant differences in this year’s Ballet. The first one is musical. It is the fact that DCK now has its own orchestra, including some of Kenya’s finest young musicians who have been drawn mainly from other leading orchestras, such as the Nairobi Philharmonic, Nairobi Orchestra, Safaricom Youth Orchestra, and Kenya Conservatoire of Music. There will also be two guest musicians, one a bassoonist from the US, the other from the Netherlands who plays the clarinet. And their conductor will be Levi Wataka, Kenya’s most acclaimed conductor who is currently the principal conductor of the Nairobi Orchestra, as well as Music Director with the National Youth Orchestra of Kenya and Nairobi Youth Orchestra among others. “We are excited that Levi, who’s a Kenyan orchestral superstar, will be conducting the ballet for the first time,” Cooper told BDLife during a dress rehearsal of the ballet that Russian composer IlyichTchaikovsky wrote the dazzling musical score for. Also included among the guest artists performing this year is the Ghetto Classics Children’s Choir. This is a group of youth from Korogocho who study music with the Art of Music Foundation. The choir will be singing the chorus in the Waltz of the Snowflakes which takes place towards the end of Act One. The actual story of the Nutcracker was written by E.T.A. Hoffman and first performed in 1882 in St. Petersburg’s Imperial Marinsky Theatre. The original choreography was by Maruis Petipa; it has been adapted and revised in recent times by Cooper Rust who previously has put in ‘guest appearances’ either as ‘Arabian Coffee’ (which is being danced by Rani Shah this year) or as Frau Stahlbaum whose home is where the Christmas party takes place. It is her daughter Clara (Keri Yamane) who receives a Christmas gift, a toy Nutcracker shaped as a uniformed soldier, from her Godfather Herr Drosselmeyer. Once the party ends and Clara falls asleep, she is awakened (while still dreaming) to find her Nutcracker (Eugene Ochieng) is alive and looking more like Prince Charming than a toy. He and his troops fight with Rat King and his rat-pack. Fortunately, he triumphs over the rats. Then to the intermission. The whole Nutcracker is a joyful collection of eclectic dances, rich with colorful costuming, designed and produced by the Centre’s costume mistress, Antonia Mukandie who has been assisted by volunteers, parents, and her team of tailors who dressed up more than 120 dancers. Most of them I watched last Sunday as they rehearsed a whole series of exotic dances shared with Clara as gratitude for ‘saving’ the Nutcracker prince from being defeated by the Rat King. If The Nutcracker sounds surreal, it is. But it is also a fantasy meant to charm and enchant children. That is why the little girl Clara travels to far away lands in her dreams. Accompanied by her Nutcracker, she meets everyone from the Snow Queen (Joy Gitonga) and Snow Cavalier (Alex Stow) together with their snowflakes to assorted Angels (from Arch angels and cherubs to Guardian angels and Seraphim). She meets a Chef who introduces her to Spanish Chocolate (Watiri), Arabian Coffee (Rani Shah) and Chinese tea (Charles Irungu, juhi Nanji). She meets a Dragon (Francis Kibe) with long legs, a group of Russians headed by Aske Ballan and a shepherdess (Pauline Okumu) with baby lambs, a big bundle of beautiful flowers and the graceful Sugar Plum Fairy (Pamela Atieno) and Cavalier (Shamick Otieno), both of whom have been with DCK since it initially opened in 2015. Both came from her first-time teaching ballet to children in Kibera. There are other dancers in the ballet who came from either Kibera or Kuwinda. They came on scholarships the Centre was able to provide thanks to local supporters of DCK as well as those from overseas who hear about the Centre through the efforts of the NGO, Artists for Africa which has enabled many young Kenyan from ‘under-served’ communities to attend workshops, advanced studies and dance programs abroad. Some are professional dancers, like Joel Kioko who joined the Joffrey Ballet and now is with the Nevada Ballet Theatre.

SILVIA’S NEW SCRIPT A TOUR DE FORCE

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted November 20, 2022) Silvia Cassini’s brand-new play ‘Speak their Names’ which had its world premiere last weekend at the Muthaiga Country Club, is a tour de force. It’s a powerful indictment of misogyny as depicted by a sensitive man, the Italian playwright Federico Taverio, played with all the essential insight and sensitivity by Brian Ogola. The play is also a form of protest told politely about the torture of women and girls, which is only depicted two or three times momentarily in the play. Those flash moments are meant to reveal the brutal injustice inflicted on women in the late 16th century Italy. But clearly, Cassini like the playwright Federico felt compelled to tell their truth in the dramatic form at which she is best known.

Her most recent production,“A Man Like You” also premiered in Kenya but has toured the world ever since and established this former architect on solid theatrical ground. But being a single mother with part of her family living abroad, she has been away for a time. Fortunately, it was just long enough for her to write about the little-known tale of the Witches of Triori. These are the women and girls whose stories of suffering and torture might have been lost in one writer’s footnotes if Cassini and her playwright Federico hadn’t felt compelled to tell their story, including the damnable roles of the Catholic Church and the City State in destroying the lives and livelihoods of women who were otherwise recognized as worthy healers, homemakers, and midwives who’d provided essential services in their mountainous community of Triori. The structure of Cassini’s play is fascinating since she could only find a fragment of the story as the events of 1587 had already been buried in the women’s undocumented history. So she invents an interesting avenue of flashback as we witness the writer transcending time and space in his dreams. That is where he meets Giovaninia Ausenda (Nixsha Shah), the child who tells him the story. She is also someone who wants him to feel the pain of the women’s subjugation so she insists they do a role-play in which he plays the victim with hands bound behind his back.

Meanwhile, she plays the grand inquisitor and torturer who humiliates him even as she ensures he feels a fraction of pain that women and girls deemed witches endure before they get ‘disappeared’, never to be seen or heard from again. Only one woman emerged from the torture and impunity of Italy’s ‘Salem witch trials’. Yet no one could explain the survival of the beautiful Franchetta Borelli (Nini Wacera). Cassini strategically weaves her story into the play, first at its very outset, when some late-comers might easily miss this essential moment when the torture and cruelty of men are manifested in that first flash scene. How it fits into the remainder of the play is one of the reasons someone needs to give the play their full attention since it unfolds like a flower, or is it a jigsaw puzzle? Nini Wacera, like Martin Kigondu and Matthew Ondiege, are double cast, in the show. But it is she as Franchetta who conveys the full might of a woman’s mind to withstand the heinous rack for nearly 24 hours, and still she does not break. She will not confess to the lie of being a witch which she is not. Whether all the other women who were arrested, interrogated, and tortured finally confessed under extreme duress, we will never know. But in his dream, Federico promises to tell the women’s truth. In his dream, he confronts the women’s oppressors and risks his own life in the process. In fact, when he’s awake, we worry that he might overdose on the sleeping pills he consumes as means of slipping quickly back into his dream and having Giovanina tell him the remainder of the women’s tale. It’s finally the shock of finding her tortured and fated to die that he fully accepts being the one to Speak their truth to the world and ensure their lesson is learned.

Yet if, after hundreds of years, their story still resonates as a reality inflicted in one form of abuse or other on women, (be it FGM, domestic violence, rape, or incest), then a play like ‘Speak their Names’ is still necessary to rouse awareness of the ongoing need for equity, gender equality, and most importantly, justice for all the women and girls deemed witches, be they from Salem or Triori or even Endor.

SHABU PREFERS TRUTH TO BEAUTY

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted November 16 2022) Shabu Mwangi doesn’t pretend to care about using his art to paint beautiful pictures. Beauty is not even an issue for this award-winning artist from Mukuru Lunga Lunga. “I paint to liberate,” he told the curator of his current solo exhibition at Gravitart in Westlands, Veronica Dura. “I am not painting for beauty [‘s sake]. I am painting to start…a conversation,” he explained to her before the opening of his exhibition entitled ‘Winter Memories’ on November 5th. The conversation that Shabu started years ago and continues even now relates to the injustice of social inequality and the structures that sustain and maintain that injustice. Sensitive to the struggles of the poor and oppressed, Shabu’s art interrogates issues that affect them directly. But not just the obvious concerns for hunger and unemployment. His vision penetrates political and historical problems to explore the hidden ramifications left behind by colonialism and the capitalist system that propelled it.

For example, a work like ‘The Surrogates’ paints a raw portrait of two ugly men who are equivalent to ‘Home Guards’ who served as loyal African stand ins for the colonizer. So, for Shabu, while colonialism may be officially dead and gone, he sees its continuation in surrogates who still serve foreign interests over those of their own people. One thing the surrogates are meant to do is keep a lid on public dissent. This is where a work like ‘Motion in Misinformation’ comes in. Shabu seems to understand the role that media (including social media) can play in distracting, distorting, and deluding the public into believing untruths and thus losing sight of their role in affecting social change.

One of the central untruths that Shabu challenges is that no one can change the status quo. Yet social change is exactly what Shabu’s art is all about. He’s like a lightning rod, electrifying and exposing the plight of the poor. It’s evident in works like ‘Waiting in Agony’ and ‘State of Agony’, which portray tragic yet impactful figures, faces that fascinate not for their beauty but for their emotional resonance. In fact, one might be revolted by some of Shabu’s art, yet that in itself reveals how powerful are the emotions emanating from his imagery. One such painting that might be difficult to see is ‘Unwrapped self’ since the ‘unwrapped’ face reveals a bloody image that is red, raw, and deeply unsettling. It’s as if he dares you to look and live with the reality that the pain of poverty is an experience that most people cannot walk away from.

Giving ‘voice to the voiceless’, Shabu created several paintings marked with bright red lines. They are lines which apparently signify the boundaries beyond which the poor and oppress are not meant to trespass. One can see them in Shabu’s most recent work entitled ‘Winter Memories’. In it, a mother and child are positioned behind several red lines, all of which are indicators for them to stay where they are. They are supposedly stuck. There is also a red line through another one of his recent paintings entitled ‘Supreme Cages’ which provides the clearest cue. The poor and oppressed are encaged in their poverty and require a radical change, possibly even a revolution.

One of the most provocative political statements that Shabu makes is in the piece, ‘Flags that bleed’. “His point being that whenever men make flags, wars tend to follow,” says Veronica. The beneficiaries of those wars might be found in his mixed media piece entitled ‘Old and Power’. Three old men are seated in a board room where ground-breaking decisions are made. This portrait of power elites was painted in 2017, five years before his ‘Dimming Stiffness’ which reveals one man wearing a crown apparently falling off his head. Winter Memories is an assemblage of nearly 30 paintings, many of which are visual metaphors for deeply personal as well as political concerns of the artist. But without an appreciation of Shabu’s vision, one cannot easily grasp the authentic beauty of his art.

Shabu’s artistry has been recognized and lauded several times this year, first when he and the Wajukuu Art Project that he founded were invited to exhibit at the prestigious German art fair, documenta15. Then, while still in Germany, he and Wajukuu won the Mario Bochi Award followed by the Arnold Bode Prize. After that, he was invited to Brazil to participate in the Biennale Mercosul13. Previously, his work has been represented in shows and art fairs in Europe, US and Kenya.

10TH ANNIVERSARY ART AUCTION MOST SUCCESSFUL TO DATE

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted november 15, 2022) For a lover of fine art, the opportunity to watch an art auction is comparable to the way a football fan must feel when he or she gets to watch their favorite team engage in a much-anticipated football match. Either way, the occasion is a thrill. At least that is what one art critic felt when she learned she couldn’t attend the 10th Anniversary edition of Circle Art’s Art Auction East Africa in person on November 8th because all the seats at the gallery had been fully booked for weeks in advance. But she could watch it online if she found the link to apply, and potentially get admitted among all the others who were intent on bidding for this year’s assemblage of East African art. Having only attended one ‘hybrid’ art auction before, (hybrid meaning witnessing and bidding in person, online or by phone), the critic had previously been in the room, not online while the auction took place. “The pandemic taught gallerists how effective online activity can be,” Thaddu Tewa, a previous art auction volunteer told BDLife. “Even before COVID, they were accepting bids by phone and what’s app, so the format wasn’t terribly new,” he said. But this year’s Art Auction East Africa was new in the sense that it was the first time the auction took place inside the gallery itself. Previously, it happened in a five-star hotel. But since so many Circle clients are either out of the country, out of Nairobi, or simply happy to attend the auction online from home, it was also a way to economize for the gallery. Fortunately, the way Circle had set up their online auction was user-friendly. Once you opened up the live web page with a split screen, you were able to keep track of all the important information as well as, if not better than, a person seated inside the gallery. On the left-hand side of the screen were the auctioneer, the numbers, including estimated final bid, and the bidding process happening in real time. And on the right were the work of art and the bio of the artist And just as soon as the auctioneer hit the final hammer of sale on a piece, the next work immediately flipped into place for our consideration. The only problem in the process was technical, something that brought the whole event to a halt for several minutes. But bidders were patient as there was much more to come. Last Tuesday from 6pm, if one had been vetted and approved, we could watch nearly every relevant detail of all 57 lots or works of art being sold at the auction. The works themselves came from Kenya as well as from Uganda, Tanzania, Eritrea, Seychelles, Rwanda and Mozambique. The auctioneer, Chilson Wamoja from Antique Auctions deserves praise since he did his job methodically, swiftly, and effectively, stating every bid so that the process continued quickly, efficiently. He wasn’t pushy, but he definitely was intent on moving the numbers forward to ensure each painting or sculpture was bid upon to its maximum potential. For instance, when it was clear that at least two parties were bidding aggressively for one item or other, he didn’t push either way. He just let the bidding flow freely, enabling works by Peterson Kamwathi, and Beatrice Wanjiku, and E.S. Tingatinga to be bid on and bought for well over a million shillings each. And while it momentarily felt as if the bidding process had cooled down by the time Chilson reached Lot 50, there was a surprise run on a work by Sane Wadu which ultimately sold for 1.9 million shillings. It was the stunning star sale of the night! At the same time, there were several works that didn’t initially find buyers either because there was little interest in the work or because the beginning price was too high for bidders to bear. That might have been the case, for instance, when the starting number for bidding on one of the beautiful paintings by Geoffrey Mukasa was 1.2 million shillings. But just because a piece did not sell up front, a prospective buyer could easily make an offer after the auction. Indeed, Danda Jarolmjek invited anyone interested to meet her after the event. This year several pieces were sold after the official auction. “Ultimately, it is up to the artist if they wish to sell their work at the offered price,” Danda said. Ultimately, the auction made Sh30.5 million, making it the most successful edition to date.

WITCHCRAFT CLAIM DEBUNKED AFTER CENTURIES

By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted November 14, 2022) Witches have a different social status today than in centuries past when women like Joan of Arc were burnt at the stake and New England women were tried and tortured to confess being witches, rather than healers and midwives. Today, Harry Potter has transformed witchcraft into a reputable profession and turned JK Rowling into a multi-millionaire. But around the same time as Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, recalled the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, a similar sort of misogyny was taking place in the mountain village of Triori, Italy in 1587. The Italian women’s little-known story was discovered by Kenyan-Italian playwright Silvia Cassini while traveling round the region and visiting a museum where a tidbit of their tale was revealed to her. But the writer of ‘A Man like You’ felt compelled to dig deeper into their story. “I couldn’t find much more information on them, so I chose to take what little I knew and fill in the gap with my play,” Cassini tells BDLife during one of her troupe’s dress rehearsals before the play’s world premiere tonight at the Muthaiga Club. Noting that she has been blessed with a brilliant cast in the form of Brian Ogola, Nini Wacera, Martin Kigondu, Matthew Ondiege, and Nixsha Shah, Cassini says she often has taken months to write her plays. “But I completed ‘Speak their Truth’ in just a month.” Clearly inspired to tell their truth, the author of ‘A Man like You’ admits that one of her favorite plays is Miller’s Crucible, about comparable trials, torture, and the tragic execution of women deemed witches due to pettiness and power games played among men using women as their pawns of war. The power brokers in Cassini’s compelling play, dramatized with lights carefully choreographed by Alacoque Ntome, are played by Martin Kigondu representing the State and Matthew Ondiege representing the Church. Both are malicious, and despite having conflicting interests, are united in their desire to bring down women-power. Both are prepared to blame women for a multitude of sins, from talking too much and murdering babies to being buddies with the Devil. In the play, their accusations lead to hundreds of trials, torture, and the disappearance for countless women and girls. “Only one woman returns,” says Cassini, referring to the beautiful Franchetta Borelli played by Nina Wacera who is just back from Zambia where she won an award for Best Supporting Female Actor in the Netflix hit, Country Queen. (She’s also up for a similar prize at this year’s Kalasha night) No one knows how Franchetta managed to survive. But that is just one of the mysteries addressed in Silvia’s masterful play. The central story revolves around the writer, Federico Taverio, who is called upon to ‘Speak their Truth’ by a 13-year-old Ghost played by Nixsha Shah, 26, a young Kenyan recently returned from studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Cassini has taken a fascinating approach to exploring all these themes. She chooses a contemporary playwright to be drawn into the girl’s ghostly world in his sleep. It is there that he obtains an intimate view of the Inquisitors so keen to deprive women of their freedom, power, and innocence. Time-travel is nothing new to science fiction, but one hasn’t seen it so much on stage. Yet Brian Ogola is more than up to the task of slipping in and out of a dreamy medieval realm where this youthful ghost shows him the ultimate cruelty of the church elder, Deputy Bishop (Ondiege) and the equally malevolent Deputy Commissioner (Kigondu). Who is equally capable of making ghostly time travel a reality is Ms Shah who can easily pass for 13 even as she implores Federico to tell the world what really happened to the women and the way their lives were sacrificed. The writer is married to the beautiful Lily (Nina is transformed with awesome switches in attire, hair, and makeup) who threatens to leave him if he doesn’t come back from his intensely private realm. But he has his own personal reasons for taking on the task of telling their story. Besides that, he couldn’t help falling in love with this beautiful child. I suspect audiences who attend the show this weekend at Muthaiga Club or see it next weekend at Peponi Prep School Auditorium will feel the same way. ‘Speak their truth’ is a haunting and tender-hearted tale that confirms Cassini as one of Kenya’s and also, Africa’s leading contemporary playwrights.