By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted May 16 for May 17, 2019)
The
so-called ‘Pop-Up’ Art Exhibition used to be a rare phenomenon, something that
was spur-of-the-moment and it had a less formal feel about it.
But
nowadays, it is not only art exhibitions that are ‘popping up’ around the town
in increasing numbers. There are so many new studios, mentoring projects and
workshops as well as pop-up exhibitions happening right now that one can hardly
keep up with them all.
In fact, the
landscape of the Kenyan visual art world has changed tremendously in the last
decade, but even more so in the last five years and even in the past few
months.
We still
have busy formal gallery spaces like One Off, Circle Art, Red Hill, Banana
Hill, Nairobi Gallery, Creativity Gallery inside Nairobi National Museum and
occasionally, Muthaiga and Karen Country Clubs. Foreign cultural centres like
Alliance Francaise and Goethe Institute have also been consistent gallery sites
where visual artists find space to exhibit their art.
But there
has been a mushrooming of new gallery spaces in the last few years. British
Institute of East Africa (BIEA) got into exhibiting Kenyan artists but not so
long ago. Then there is the Art Cupboard and Kioko Mwitiki’s Art Gallery both
of which have come up in Lavington, and The Attic which currently has no fixed
abode but was based in Nyari up until recently. One Off Gallery also set up an
annex gallery at the Roslyn Riviera Mall. And upcountry, the Tafaria Castle
even opened its own art gallery a little over a year ago.
Then there
are the open houses, which are somehow equivalent to ‘pop-up’ shows. They
happen in spaces like the Brush tu Artists Collective, Kobo Trust, Landmark
Karen, Karen Village, Studio Soku and even Kuona Artists Collective where
monthly pop-up styled open houses welcome local artists to exhibit side by side
of the long-time Kuona regulars, like Gakunju Kaigwa, Kevin Oduor and others.
But what is
most intriguing about the seismic shifts in the current local art scene is something
that, at one level, is not new, since artists have been setting up studios in
their homes for as long as contemporary Kenyan art has gotten off the ground.
But
certainly, that trend has picked up steam in recent times. In part we saw it
accelerating shortly before, during and after the Kuona Trust debacle and Kuona
Artists Collective was born. Then more recently, when the GoDown decided to
pursue a major re-development program, it led to shutting down the studios,
leaving the artists now to fend for themselves. So where else to go to get back
to work but in their respective homes.
The
scattering of artists back into their home studios has led to some interesting
phenomena. For one thing, we’ve seen an artist like Jeffie Magina (formerly at
GoDown) move home but then transform his abode in Umoja into a small-scale art
gallery itself.
Adam Masava
had been mentoring scores of young aspiring artists in Mukuru slum. But when
their space (a primary school) was closed, he returned to his studio in South B
and reactivated his mentoring only with fewer numbers and selectively.
Mentoring of
aspiring artists is another phenomenon that we have seen increasingly,
especially since Patrick Mukabi moved out of the GoDown and into the old
Railway Museum Art Gallery (which had gone bust) and transformed it into Dust
Depo Art Studio where scores of young artists congregate and learn basic skills
from the Master Mukabi.
Then in
2017, Brush Tu also started a mentoring program that attracted a wide range of
young Kenyan and Pan African artists. It only went on officially for a year,
nonetheless, the mentoring continues in the collegiate/cosy/convivial
atmosphere of Brush tu.
In any case,
the concept of mentoring has picked up more steam. Shabu Mwangi started doing
it several years back at Mukuru Art Centre. But now we are seeing everyone from
David Thuku, Dennis Muraguri, Meshak Oiro, Adrian Nduma, Phillda Njau, Kuria
Njogu, Jeremiah Sonko and Jeffie Magina picking up the role of mentor. In part
the trend could be traced back to the fact that Kenya doesn’t have enough
teaching institutions that focus on fine art. Whatever the reason, the process
has immense potential. The only problem I see is that some of the mentors could
use a bit more mentoring themselves.
Nonetheless,
these are exciting times in this ever-changing Kenyan art world where we hear
about new art events every day. For instance, the Afri-Love Fest is happening
tomorrow at Igikai in Westlands.
Robert Karanja
Robert Karanja
No comments:
Post a Comment