A visual walk through Kenya on canvas

By Kiundu Waweru

During this festive season, you could travel across Kenya, experiencing all the regions' way of life, from Coast to the Rift Valley, Nyanza to Western, Central and back to Nairobi in less than 30 minutes.

No, you don’t need a space ship. Just walk to the Nairobi Gallery, next to Nyayo House to an art exhibition dubbed A Visual Walk Through Kenya.

The exhibition showcases artists from different regions, each depicting the region’s culture. The artists take you on an imaginative journey, from Lake Victoria to the slums of Kibera, depicting Kenya’s heritage through explosions of colour, form, and texture.

- " I feel it’s important to remind people of where they have come from, so that they can be well informed of the future. People should cherish their culture, and document history" — Beverly Nungari, a journalism student and painter.

And the artists are from the regions they have so beautifully captured using different media. One such artist is Daniel Njoroge, a wildlife and cultural painter with 25 years experience plus countless local and international exhibitions. His painting of an Ogiek warrior stands out, with every detail carefully depicted in a photographic resemblance.

Literal challenge

Njoroge says he visited the Ogiek back in the 1970s and took their pictures using a black and white camera. "The challenge was to give my painting colour, seeing as the photograph was black and white," he says. This was the literal challenge, but in his soul, Njoroge is bleeding for the Ogiek, who since 1970, have gone through a lot of tribulations.

"The Ogiek went through a lot when Mau Forest was being parceled out to the ‘who-is-who’. This was done despite the Ogiek being good custodians of the environment. I want to document their culture and resilience." His other painting is of a Maasai homestead, depicting the lives of this community celebrated for holding on to their culture.

Speaking of culture, Njoroge is a worried man. He rues that Kenyan culture is fleeting; that it is being forgotten. He is painting all Kenyan traditional homesteads, which he plans to document in a book.

But one of the young artists, Cyrus Kabiru, exhibiting here shows us that we can take the contemporary art, and use it as a mirror to question our values. A self-taught painter and sculptor, Kabiru is a ‘collector’ of waste, which he re-fashions into various forms. He is famous for the C- Stunners, a wearable art where he makes emulations of sunglasses.

At the Nairobi Gallery, his sculptor of the ‘Drummer’ looms large, in the ‘Nairobi Metropolitan section’. Kabiru has made the Drummer using bottle tops; he sends the mystery of making something out of nothing and recycling materials to conserve the environment.

Bullfight painting

And going to Western, we meet, the ‘Bullfight’, depicted in a painting by Remu Musindi. Two bulls are locked in a battle, while a battalion of men cheer on, sticks held high.

Going to Nyanza, Michael Soi, another veteran artist, brings us a painting of a smartly dressed man, looking confident around a bevy of women who seem to spill into the background.

Daniel Njoroge, a wildlife and cultural painter. He feels Kenyan culture is being forgotten and has painted all traditional homesteads, which he plans to document in a book. [PICTURE: MARTIN MUKANGU]

Of course you guessed right, the painting is titled, The Polygamist: Akuku Danger and His Women.

Going to the Coast, Jepherd Jumba paints a pretty Swahili girl and a man travelling on a donkey, depicting Lamu life, where donkies the main form of transport.

Lydia Galavu, the Art Curator at the National Museums of Kenya, says the exhibition is open to all artists. "Our objective was to let Kenyans appreciate Kenyan art."

The exhibition runs until December 31.