By Margaretta wa Gacheru (written September 17, 2022)
Further evidence
that Nairobi has become a regional hub, not just for economic activities, but also
for cultural and artistic events is being seen this month at two of the newer
art institutions in town.
Both
Gravitart and the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI) are hosting works
by artists from Egypt and Sudan respectively. There’s ‘Mirrors of Existence’ by
Mostafa Sleem from Cairo, and El Tayeb Dawelbait’s Untitled Archive from Khartoum.
Coincidentally,
this is not the first time the two have been mentioned in the same breath. Back
in 2019, Veronica Paradinas Duro curated a show at Gravitart with both men’s
works featured in an exhibition entitled ‘The Sky inside You’. And now, she has
given Sleem a solo exhibition, which reveals how far the artist has journeyed aesthetically
since his artworks were first shown in Kenya three years ago.
There’s a
stark contrast between then and now. Sleem’s earlier works come from those
pre-COVID days when no one would have guessed how lonely life would become
during lockdown. In those earlier times, his art had lots of exuberant color
blended beautifully into a crazy cacophonic blast that seemed to be infused
with rich musical accompaniments and sun-lit sound. That exuberance is apparent
in works like ‘Flying Melody’ and ‘Finding Hug’.
But then, much
of that color disappears in Sleem’s more recent multi-faced portraits, the ones
meant to be ‘mirrors of existence’. Veronica tells BDLife that his portraits
have been inspired by one great work of art, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and
one great artist Picasso.
Mona Lisa’s
look has presented itself as an enigma to many who question what is behind her
smile. Is it sadness, sweetness, or simply a desire to be done with her sitting
asap? Sleem addresses that issue by including more than one expression of his subject’s
face on his canvas. Knowing that human beings have a myriad of moods, emotions,
and thoughts, he apparently aims for his visages to express as many of those emotions
as possible in one surreal face.
Insisting
that his faces are ‘mirrors’ not meant to be limited by gender, race, or age, he
has told Veronica that they are meant to reflect a universality and oneness of
humanity instead.
Whether that
is the way his art is read by viewers who come to see it at Gravitart, that
will be for Veronica to know. Personally, it feels like Sleem reduced his focus
to singular, isolated souls who like him, were sadly locked down during the
pandemic. Hopefully, he will revert back to using color now that COVID has
cooled.
‘Mirrors of Existence’ is a hybrid showcase running
until the end of month.
Meanwhile,
NCAI is presenting an almost comprehensive collection of El Tayeb’s works,
including everything from the installation he created in Lamu to one he made
specially for this show. It’s got his sketch books and drawings as well as lots
of the objects that have inspired him to develop along the lines that he has.
The one
arena of his creative expression that wasn’t touched in this assemblage of
miscellaneous items was his work in textile design, particularly the clothes he’s
designed and embellished with woodcut prints for Kiko Romeo. But no matter,
except that these further reveal the versatility and experimental magic of the
artist.
El Tayeb
came to Kenya as part of a tsunami tide of Sudanese artists whose first stop
was Paa ya Paa Art Centre. “I came at the invitation of Elimo Njau and Paa ya
Paa,” El Tayeb tells BDLife. He was grateful to get the chance to come. But
then, he, like so many penurious young artistic emigrants, didn’t have cash on
hand to buy paints and canvas. So what did he do? Like others, he turned to
found objects, recycling trash and turning it into treasure.
In his case,
his trash was ‘antiqued’ boxes, old wooden containers used by mainly
carpenters. He recycled tin cans too as one will see in this eclectic and fascinating
exhibition which shows the many facets of the artist who we have come to
associate with one proverbial big-nosed profile.
The profile
has grown old and redundant so it’s wonderful to see that El Tayeb has so much
more to him. This show reveals how well he can draw for one thing. It also makes
one wonder why he’s gotten so lax about experimenting compared to when he was
hungry and struggling to find a way to survive in his new environment.
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