Mural At Eastleigh

Kenya Fri 27-08-2004

Mural At Eastleigh
By a Correspondent

Sam Hopkins, an artist photographer, has just concluded a one-month residency with Kuona Trust. Sam sees engaging the public in his work as an integral part of his artistic practice. In continuing with this interest, Sam together with 13 youths from Mathare Youth Sports Association(MYSA), painted a mural on the outer wall of the MYSA offices in Eastleigh; a project that Kuona supported.

The idea to paint the mural occurred fairly spontaneously, the wall was unpainted and on a busy street. It lent itself as an ideal space which could be used to express positive messages and reach a large number of people. Before embarking on the mural painting, the youth from MYSA, all of whom were part of the famous Shoot Back team, took part in a one week workshop facilitated by Sam, which explained how to develop photos into stencils.

Mural at Eastleigh with Kuona Trust and MYSAIn doing this, Sam was able to show that photos are not necessarily the end product but can be the raw material that an artist works from. So beginning with A3 stencils they soon graduated to the 1m by 1.5m stencils that they used on the wall. Mural at Eastleigh with Kuona Trust and MYSA.

Sam and the MYSA youth worked as a team; conceptualizing and thinking about the composition of the mural as a whole. The guys and girls in the group chose the images, the captions, cut all the stencils and did the final painting, with Sam’s assistance where needed.

Sam attributes the success of the project to the youth’s enthusiasm and dedication. The final product of the collaboration between Sam, MYSA and Kuona Trust now shows on the wall of the MYSA Eastleigh office and has been attracting passersby from the actual day it was sprayed on, to date. Not only is it beautiful, but likewise educational in the messages that it sends.

Posted By: Africancolours.com

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