DREAM CONA A DREAM COME TRUE FOR LOCAL ARTISTS
By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted November 28, 2017)
The Urembo
exhibition and Hekima performances concurrently running at the Nairobi National
Museum through January 31st, 2018 are just the tip of the iceberg of
all that TICAH (Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health) is doing in Nairobi
this holiday season.
TICAH is
best known for its instructive and colorful calendars that its executive
director, Mary Ann Burris and her team have produced annually since 2010.
But this
year, TICAH’s brought together many of the Kenyan artists who’ve contributed to
beautifying the calendar with mosaic artist Eric Manya who has curated their
art together with Kenyan material culture from the Museum’s permanent
collection. That exhibition plus a series of workshops and art talks are what
constitute the ongoing Urembo show.
Mary Ann
also asked the former director of Kenya Cultural Centre Aghan Odero to assist
with working among indigenous elders and contemporary storytellers to coordinate
in several ceremonies and performances during Hekima.
But where
TICAH has been putting a major portion of its resources and energies this past year
is into a major public art project based inside Uhuru Gardens on Langata Road.
Calling it
‘Dream Cona’, the project received a ‘soft opening‘ this past weekend when a
team of Kenyan artists spent all day covering the 30 feet-long (and nine-feet
tall) wall that TICAH constructed with a blend of colorful images, symbols and
spray-painted graffiti art. The artists were assisted by students from
Brookhouse School who helped paint the wall. They also took part in art
workshops, one run by Kenyan sculptor Morris Foit, another run by Billy Mutua
on linocut printmaking.
But the
substantial part of the wall mural was created by the team of local artists
including Patrick Mukabi, Mary Ogembo, Nadia Wamunyu, Charles Ngatia, Billy
Mutua and BSQ members Bebetu Thufu and Ken Otieno among others.
“We call it
a soft launch because we don’t care to make a big splash,” said Mary Ann. “We
just want to create more spaces in Nairobi where Kenyans can come and express
themselves freely,” she added.
In fact, the
wall had already been painted once. “We actually intend to paint it over
several more times. But then we’ll take photographs of each mural and transpose
it onto big banners that we’ll keep as part of our Dream Cona collection,” said
Mary Ann as she pointed to the first banner reflecting the colorful creativity
of the first wall mural.
But the wall
is only one structure that TICAH’s constructed on the acre-square-sized plot at
one end of Uhuru Gardens. The other is a good sized (40 feet by 40 feet) tented
performance space that will be used as everything from a theatre stage to a
dance and DJ arena to a site where workshops and ceremonies can take place.
Over this
past weekend it was used as a storytelling site where the Sigana storytellers
performed throughout Saturday. Music was also provided by the popular band,
Kenge Kenge.
But Dream
Cona is not TICAH’s first foray into Uhuru Gardens. More than a year ago, Mary
Ann together with a number of artists constructed a stone labyrinth they call
‘Mahali pa Umoja’ which is similar to the ‘Peace Path’ labyrinth that TICAH built
at the Nairobi Museum two years ago with stones from all over Kenya, including
Kisii stone sculptures carved by the esteemed Kenyan sculptor Elkana Ong’esa.
This time
the labyrinth was conceived with mainly ‘njiru’ building stones while Eric
Manya created a multifaceted mosaic at its centre. But the concept behind both
laybrinths is similar. Both are sites for meditation and for drawing together
peace-making energies from all over Kenya.
“We have had
elders come from all over Kenya this year to bless Mahali pa Umoja,” said Mary
Ann. They have come from the Samburu, Maasai, Turkana, Giriama, Kamba, Luo,
Kikuyu, Kisii, Luhya, and Digo among others. “But the majority of elders have
been Maasai since we feel that historically this has been their land,” she
added.
Having
secured all the necessary permits and papers to utilize the acreage at Uhuru
Gardens, Mary Ann said the aim of the whole monumental project is to open up
more public space for Kenyans to come enjoy themselves and if they wish, to get
involved in the creative process.
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