Contemporary Kenyan Art and Sculpture in the Vanguard of The African Renaissance

Kenya Wed 23-03-2011

Contemporary Kenyan Art and Sculpture in the Vanguard of The African Renaissance
By Margaretta wa Gacheru | AfricanColours.com

Nelson Mandela was the first to speak of an African Renaissance shortly after he emerged from 27 years in prison in the early 1990s. Since then, it’s Kenyan contemporary artists, the sculptors and the painters, who have been in the vanguard of that Renaissance.

Despite their getting little media coverage for their tremendous creative output and productivity, Kenyan sculptors like Gakunju Kaigwa, Maggie Otieno, Elkana Ong’esa, and Kevin Oduor work continuously creating incredible sculptures that can be seen, not just in art galleries and museums, but also in public spaces [like hotels and bars, restaurants and outdoors] where everyday Kenyans and the public at large can see fine art for themselves.

^{Wazee by Maggie Otieno | 2008 | World Bank washington collection | Image by Andrew Njoroge/ AfricanColours.com}

Kenyan painters are even more prolific, both in their numbers and in their extraordinary creative output. Artists like Patrick Mukabi and Jimnah Kimani, Mary Ogembo and Beatrice Njoroge, Peterson Kamwathi and Kamal Shah are just a few of the outstanding Kenyan painters whose art is being recognized not only on the local art scene where fellow Kenyans are just beginning to appreciate the full value of collecting and covering their walls with expressions of indigenous artistry.

Kenyan art is increasingly being exhibited and bought in global art markets, in Europe, Asia and even in the States.
It wasn’t too long ago that the only art that people associated with Kenya was what used to be called “airport art” of the kind finely crafted by Kamba carvers, many of whom one can still see at work in Gikomba on the east side of Nairobi.

Some art critics even suggested that Kenyans had no tradition of art and culture; but what those observers failed to note is that colonialism came to Kenya before the turn of the 20th century, and many colonizers, particularly the missionaries deemed Kenyans’ indigenous cultures and religions as either “heathen,” “primitive,” or “barbaric.” And certainly, they were “uncivilized.” The Europeans came on a so-called “civilizing mission” to Kenya, even as they loved our landscape, climate and productive soil.

Unlike other places in Africa [apart from South Africa and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe], they came to settle and in the process, subjugate the locals. So Kenyans’ indigenous cultures took a beating; we were told that we could only be “civilized” by acquiring Western culture including Western styles of speaking, eating, worshipping and creating.

Elimo Njau and Filda Njau

^{Elimo and Philda Njau | Image by Andrew Njoroge/ AfricanColours.com}

Fortunately, our people are inherently creative and since the Sixties, with the dawn of Independence, many Kenyans have rediscovered their voices, visions and indigenous capacity to be creative and to make incredible artistic statements.

The first African-owned gallery was Paa ya Paa, opened in 1966 by Elimo Njau and five other visionaries [Jonathan Kariara, James Kangwana, Pheroze Nowrojee, Terry Hirst; Charles and Lewis].

Then came Gallery Watatu in 1969, launched by three expatriate artists, Yony Waite, Robin Anderson and David Hart. African Heritage was launched in 1972 by Kenya’s former Vice President Joseph Murumbi and the American designer Alan Donovan. More than a decade passed before the National Museums of Kenya opened the Gallery of Contemporary East African Art.

A decade after that came Kuona Trust in 1995. And the new millennium witnessed the birth of RaMOMA, the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (founded by Mary Collis and Carol Lees) and the GoDown Art Centre, both of which were richly endowed with Ford Foundation funding, unlike more humble indigenous art centers like the Banana Hill Art Studio, the Ngecha Artists Association, Maasai Mbili, Kijiji Art Studio and Kilele Africa.

What has been most remarkable about the development of contemporary Kenyan art is that the artists have all had to struggle—not only to obtain the artistic training required to make fine art, but also to find space wherein to create, art supplies that they can afford and of course, the markets and exhibition sites they need to share their artistry with the world.

Banana hill sign board

^{Banana Hill art studio sign board | Image by Andrew Njoroge}^{/ AfricanColours.com}

The struggles have often led to artists cultivating jua kali [or makeshift] strategies for meeting their artistic needs. A few have been fortunate to attend fine arts colleges and university courses, but many more have had to cultivate their skills in jua kali style, sharing skills, knowledge and experience with one another, either in workshop settings, out under the ‘hot sun’ or inside their homes.

The spirit of harambee has been evident in many jua kali locations, such as Kijiji Art Studio, set up in late 2009 in Kayole by Michael Wafula and as early as 1991 when Shine Tani was sharing skills with friends and family in Banana Hill.

Ironically, among the most consistent venues to show Kenyan art and sculpture since 1963 are the foreign cultural centers, including the Goethe Institute which opened in 1963 and assisted Paa ya Paa run artists’ workshops throughout the Sixties and early Seventies.

Alliance Francaise de Nairobi opened its own fine arts gallery in 1977 and opened its doors wide to relatively unknown local artists like Jak Katarikawe and Ancent Soi [who had already won an Olympic medal for painting in 1972], who would subsequently gain wider renown outside of Kenya than among their own.

The Italian Institute of Culture was the first center to host a major exhibition of Kenyan sculpture, echoing Italians’ historic interest in the three-dimensional art form which they celebrate with their own exclusive Sculpture Garden in Malindi.

A few Kenyans had been keen on sculpture before that time: For instance, Samwel Wanjau created his Mau Mau Freedom Fighter out of cement and steel to be placed in front of Parliament; however, his powerful 12 foot tall sculpture intimidated the powers that be, and that sculpture may be found today on permanent exhibition at Paa ya Paa at Ridgeways.

Elkana Ongesa and his assistants in Tabaka, Kisii

^{Sculptor Elkana Ongesa (R) with his assistants working on the Bird of peace in, Tabaka, Kisii in 2009 | Image by Margaretta Wa Gacheru}

Elkana Ong’esa’s skill in Kisii stone sculpting in a time-honored tradition in his homeland of Tabaka in Western Kenya, and it led to his creating work which now stands in many parts of the world, including Paris and Shenzhen, China.

Meanwhile, Gakunju Kaigwa, who studied painting at Kenyatta University, had to apprentice with the brilliant Ugandan sculptor John Odoch Ameny, in order to cultivate his sculptural skills. Kaigwa then went on to train at the marble stone capital of Italy, at Carrara; the University of Dundee where he got a masters degree in Public Art and at the Johnson Foundry in the US where he studied bronze casting for several years before returning to Kenya.

But before the Kenyan sculpture exhibition at the Italian Institute, Kenyans were not renowned for their sculpture. [Remember the countless Kamba sculptors were still ranked as “artisans” producing “souvenir art”]. But it was at that exhibition that the public “discovered” sculptors like Harrison Mburu (whose art graces the interior and exterior areas of RaMoMA Museum), Chelege van Rampelberg and one of the two sons of Samwel Wanjau, Anthony and Jackson, both of whom are outstanding sculptors.

Today, sculpture is one of Kenya’s strongest art forms, particularly as public art is finally being appreciated by the Kenya Government as is most apparent in the City Center statue of Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi, whose work was commissioned to Kenyatta University and sculpted by Kevin Oduor.

Among other exceptional Kenyan sculptors are those who specialize in creating art out of ‘found objects’ or junk. In fact, junk art has become a notable genre practiced by everyone from Kioko Mwitiki of Pimbi Gallery, Joseph Bertiers Mbatia, Patricia Njeri and Alex Wainaina to Ken Mwingi, Cyrus Ng’ang’a, Dennis Muraguri, Kepha Mosoti and David Mwaniki.

One of the best places to find sculptural works in progress is at Kuona Trust, which has gone through major changes since it was first launched at the National Museum in the mid-Ninties. Now situated in Hurlingham on a two acre plot, Kuona is one venue where one will find sculptors and painters working side by side, often jua kali style in the open air.

At the same time, some of the finest Kenyan artists are scattered all over Nairobi, often to be found working in their home studios. Be it at Banana Hill or Ngecha (where the art collector Anthony Athaide counted almost 100 working artists in 2010, including Sebastian Kiarie, Wanyu Brush, Chain Muhandi, Ann Muthoni Turugah and King Dodge King’oroti), Kahawa West or Kiamumbi (where you’ll find Richard Kimathi, Anthony Okello, Kaafiri Kariuki, John Kamicha, and Zacharia and Lionel Mbutha) or Kitengela (where you may meet Jimnah Kimani, Justus Kyalo, El Tayeb, and Nani Croze) or Kayole (where Wafula is training a whole new generation of painters), Kenyan artists are busy.

Nameless Matatu Art

^{Matatu Art | Image by Andrew Njoroge/ AfricanColours.com}

Yet without a doubt, the most flamboyant evidence that Kenyan art is alive and well and that the spirit of a cultural renaissance is thriving, can best be seen along any Nairobi street around the City Center where matatus are allowed to travel and matatu art adds vibrant colour, curiosity and creative energy to city street life!

Matatu artists don’t necessarily show their work in city galleries or art centers, but it commands the attention of thousands of Kenyans on a daily basis, particularly among the youth who often choose to travel only on matatus whose artwork they like the best.

It is artistry that is ever changing depending on the zeitgeist of the popular culture. And it’s a living witness to the fact that Kenyan contemporary art is literally on the move and having an impact on the daily lives of Kenyan people from all walks of life.

Margaretta wa Gacheru Doctoral CandidateDepartment of Sociology Loyola University Chicago

Posted By: Maggie Otieno

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Your Comments

kyalo: sisi kwa sisi, art force and many other notable movements in art. it seems art in kenya is relegated to certain sections of the country. diang'a,samuel wanjau, rosemary karuga was a scupltor before the collages. hope this is just a preview into whatever it is your writing.

Donald Maingi: You are right Kyalo. May a hundred flowers bloom as a complexity of each of their stories is untold.By untelling stories can then histories be told. Both telling and untelling stories communicate histories but the latter are more critical than the former.

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