Olympics Of Visual Arts In Athens

Kenya Fri 20-05-2005

Olympics Of Visual Arts In Athens
By Ogova Ondego

Artist Tabitha Waithira Mburu of Kenya has been invited to the Olympics of Visual Arts in Athens. She is one of 15 African artists selected as "Cultural Ambassadors of Art" and invited to Greece to participate in ARTIADE 2004 that runs parallel to the Olympic Summer Games.

Others to accompany Mburu-who signs her art as Tabitha wa Thuku-are Ghanaians K.O. Owusu-Ankomah, Akwele Suma Glory, Virginia Ryan, Nigerians Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, Onyema Offoedu-Okeke, Zak Atta, Olu Oguibe, Togolese Koffi Agbetti, Eza Komla, Yawovi Gbogbotsi, UgandansPaul Ssendagire, Eria Nsubuga, and Paul van Schalkwyk (Namibia) and Chipika Simanwe (Zambia).

Mburu’s three paintings captures women carrying luggage on their heads and backs that, she says, is a representation of Kenyan women in their daily lives.

"Greece is important to me as it is where civilisation began. I will be away for about 15 days taking in the beauty of Greek architecture, museums, paintings and sculptures in an attempt to gain some inspiration that is likely to change my artistic career," she says.

But Mburu is yet to get a return ticket to Athens as, she says, organisers of the Olympic Official Art expect artists to find their own way to Greece. She is appealing for assistance not only for herself but also for her artist daughter, Edelquinn Chiko Njambi, whom she says gives her inspiration in her career.

Mburu works part time as an assistant education coordinator at Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) in Nairobi. "This is a voluntary programme through which we intend to educate Kenyans to appreciate art by reaching out to secondary schools," she says. Perhaps this could see Kenyan artists-whom she describes as being rich in ideas but poor materially-acquire means of meeting their basic needs once Kenyans start buying art. But this could take a while as Ramoma continues to invite schools over for education every Thursday afternoon.

"Kenyan artists are among the poorest people in this country. They die of diseases that could easily be prevented and treated, sleep hungry, and their children drop out of school for lack of money," Mburu says.

Although she had always painted and given her art away to friends, it was not until 1990 that, upon becoming a mother, that Mburu began exhibiting her work in galleries in order to sell and support her daughter. Fourteen years later, Mburu-who learnt how to draw before differentiating the various letters of the alphabet-has little to show for her immense talent apart from what she describes as ‘growing strong spiritually and artistically’. She uses art for therapy. "Whenever I feel low I retreat to my gallery to paint and relieve tension," she explains.

To say that Mburu is passionate about art would be an under-statement. She is a consummate artist. But that is by default. Mburu's mind had all been set on a science career when her Christian Religious Education teacher, Sister Colette, prevailed upon her in Form Three to pursue art.

Tabitha Waithira Mburu"Although I had always enjoyed paintings, I hated it when the sister forced me to take it as an official examinable subject. She used to give us topics on which to paint and always took away what we produced without telling us where our artwork went. I don’t have any of my secondary school work," she says.

Having been literally forced into doing liberal arts subjects at Ordinary Level at Loreto Limuru Girls’ School, Mburu says she lacked a good subject combination for Advanced Level and had to study Economics, History and Home Science at Ngara Girls’ School.

Upon leaving high school she enrolled for a Clothing Technology course at Kenya Polytechnic in Nairobi in the hope of supporting herself but she had to drop out of college for lack of bus fare. Commuting daily by public means from her Gatundu home, about 40 kilometres out of Nairobi, was arduous enough.

During an industrial attachment at East Africa Spinners in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, she realised that the career she was getting into could not be as stable as she had thought as textile factories were closing down with thousands of workers being rendered redundant.

This, coupled with the difficulties of raising daily bus fare to and from Nairobi, sealed her fate; she dropped out of college.

Shortly after this she met an Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Alex Sanotelli, who invited her to come to Korogocho slums in Nairobi to help teach single mothers income-generating skills. That was how she started teaching ciondo (basket)-weaving in April 1992 and jewellery-making seven months later. The project, Jumuiya ya Udada, accorded the single women self-respect, purpose and a decent life.

Tabitha Waithira MburuIn 1996, Mburu joined Buru Buru Institute of Fine Art (BIFA) to study ceramics. She pursued the course on her own for two semesters before BIFA discontinued it and so she ended up teaching herself sculpture.

"I didn't like theory and so I prefer to say I am self-taught," Mburu, who does everything from painting, sculpting, weaving, jewellery designing and pottery, says.

Living in a gallery and studio, there is no dichotomy in the career and social life of this artist whose every pore seems to be oozing art. Her three-roomed house in Kikuyu town has more artworks than some art galleries I know in Nairobi. All the walls of the house are adorned with artworks with so many more stacked high in many corners and under the beds.

Framed paintings, colour-splattered abstract, carvings, sculptures, claywork, jewellery, and installation, crowd her humble dwelling which she refers to as her sanctuary, study, studio and home.

So attached to her creations is Mburu that she admits that she finds it difficult to part with any of them no matter how much money one is offering for a painting. Could this explain why there is hardly any space in the house most of it having been taken by artworks?

One of eight children born in 1963, the turning point for Mburu came in 1985 when she emerged third in an annual schools and colleges art competition. "It was from here that I decided to pursue an art career, " she says. She had now accepted the subject ‘imposed’ on her.

Before joining Ramoma, Mburu taught at St Catherine's Primary School at Mukuru Promotion Centre, another informal settlement in Nairobi. The left-handed Mburu does figurative paintings on her daily experiences, her themes ranging from fantasy to social issues and nature. Although life appears unfair to Mburu, she waxes with artistic optimism and enthusiasm.

"I advise everyone to take art seriously as it is the mother of all things in life," she says. "One cannot construct buildings and automobiles without art. Everything springs from art." But why should any one value art if it cannot provide money with which to meet one’s daily needs?

"Art is not about making money," Mburu counters. "If you are looking for money in art, then you are doing it in the wrong place. There is no money in art in Kenya."

She laments that artists in Kenya cannot make ends meet without the support of expatriates who buy their creations.

"Kenyans consider us artists to be mad. But can a mad person mix colours and come up with nice-looking paintings?" she says, posing rhetorically, "Who is mad-someone who does not understand and appreciate art or the one who paints?"

As if giving up, Mburu says "An African may be interested in art only if it were an edible commodity."

If she had it to do over again, would Mburu consider becoming an artist?

Yes, she says. "I enjoy educating society by exposing people’s ignorance, shortcomings, cultural poverty. This enables them to change."

As we wind up the interview, I wonder if Mburu has any dreams.

"My immediate plan is to acquire a mobile studio, a car, to be painting in it as I wait for people during appointments instead of wasting time doing nothing."

Her long-term plan, she says, is to found an art foundation from which artists can seek assistance for healthcare and school fees for their children.

"There is great diversity among the cultures of the Olympic athletes, and their peoples and nations should present works of art that manifest this. In this way they will help carry forward the common purpose of the universal Olympic ideal."

Posted By: African Colours

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