Peterson Kamwathi Online Exhibition

Kenya Thu 28-02-2008

Peterson Kamwathi Online Exhibition
By Peterson Kamwathi

It was 2005 and Kenya was gearing up for the 2007 General Elections. Everywhere in the country, men and women stood in long queues to register for what became the most volatile and hotly contested presidential race in Kenya’s history. Today, two months later, the dust and fury raised from the race is yet to settle.

But perhaps in retrospect of where it all began, AfricanColours hosts an online exhibition of Peterson Kamwathi’s ‘Faces’- a collection of painting Kamwathi did in 2005 – of men and women queuing to get registered as voters.

“The faces are actually of actual people, some I know and others that I don not,” says Kamwathi. “When I started out, I wanted to paint 24 male faces and 12 female faces,” says Kamwathi. “It’s not discrimination at all,” he adds in his defense.

“At the time I was undertaking this project, it was a fact that there were more male voters than female voters. The situation might have changed now, but that was a fact then”

But Kamwathi only managed to draw four female faces and seven male faces.

The beauty of the faces is in the details, which Kamwathi is brilliantly able to achieve through his signature style of using broken strokes, shadows and shades of red.

In this collection, Kamwathi also shows his fascination with hats – with four men wearing different kinds of hats or caps.

Enjoy Faces. It is a reminder, to Kenyans perhaps, that all they sought to do was to exercise their civic right and face a peaceful tomorrow.

Posted By: AfricanColours

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