Enterprising painters give Nairobi its first open fine arts market
Martin Muhoro, an artist in residence at Muchatha. WAKANYOTE
Out in Muchatha, one of Nairobi’s peri-urban villages
situated a few kilometres from the United Nations headquarters, a group
of artists are working on the front garden of an old hand in the game,
Wakanyote Njuguna, to create one of the most inventive experiments in
artistic expression in Kenya.
Since March last year, the team composed of fine artists,
painters, and sculptors has been at Wakanyote’s almost every day of the
week — creating a large variety of African art and artifacts that are
exhibited at a monthly show where visitors not only sample the
aesthetics but can also buy and carry it home.
Wakanyote Njuguna, founder of Sanaa Mbele. pix by Xi Lin
“We are creating and assembling what should become
one of Kenya’s prime fine art markets, one day at a time,” says Elkana
Ong’esa, who recently opened the African Institute for Culture and
Development to train local sculptors and carvers in the finer techniques
of creating works that are not only claiming world class status but
also selling for millions of shillings in the global art markets.
Together with the dozens of quasi professionals who
exercise their skills in Wakanyote’s garden, Ongesa belongs to the
group of artists that has rejected the notion that commercialising art
kills aesthetics.
“Those who tell us not to think about making money
from our art are doing us a disservice,” he says vigorously opposing the
myth that has only defined African art in terms of its functionality —
either as utilitarian artifacts such as ceramic pots, calabash milk
containers, and beautiful grass mats used for bedding, or as religious
or ceremonial items used at special occasions such as circumcision.
Today, one could say that Africans still create art that is functional but not purely as “art for art’s sake”.
The difference is only that the functionality has
to do with surviving in a 21st century world where millions of Africans
are self-employed in the informal economy, there being too few jobs to
go round in the formal sector.
In Kenya, art has in the past few years gradually
taken its position as an important element of the “Creative Economy”,
with immense and often untapped potential for generating growth and
creating jobs.
Recent studies by the United Nations agencies have
found that for a culturally diverse country like Kenya, creative art is
one segment of the economy with a limitless growth potential in
activities such as music, architecture, handicrafts, fine art, fashion
and interior design, publishing and graphic design.
This is the reality that has escaped the minds of
Kenya’s policy makers even as they grapple with the tough task of
keeping jobs growth steady and in line with population trends.
A misunderstanding of its role in a modern economy
is also the reason art was removed from Kenya’s list of examinable
subjects in the national schools syllabus at the turn of the millennium
after former President Moi roped it into the formal learning system in
1985.
Bear fruits
Though now on the periphery, the mainstreaming of
art in the school system in the 1980s helped nurture and sharpen the
skills of countless Kenyan artists who identify themselves as
self-taught painters and sculptors, despite having taken art classes
throughout their primary and,or, secondary education.
The Kibaki government deleted art from the syllabus
upon coming to power in 2003, dismissing it as unnecessary and a waste
of time.
That action has not prevented a few Kenyan artists from enjoying a good living off their art.
That action has not prevented a few Kenyan artists from enjoying a good living off their art.
The list of successful artists includes Richard
Kimathi, Peterson Kamwathi, Ehoodi Kichapi, Beatrice Njoroge, and
Patrick Mukabi, among others.
As in any other segment of the economy, there are strugglers
in the art-world who can only be best described as belonging to the jua
kali market, whose occupants are doing their best to find ways of not
only producing quality art but also exhibiting and marketing it both
locally and internationally.
The Sanaa Mbele Centre in Muchatha village hosts local artists
from neighbouring Banana Hill, Ngecha, Ruaka, and Muchatha itself — a
daily engagement that is only beginning to bear fruits.
“The artists are prolific, yet they haven’t had
enough venues to exhibit their art,” said Wakanyote, a former gold medal
winner in fine art.
David Mwaura created 'Butterfly' at Sanaa Mbele. pix by Xi Lin
Better known as an actor, who performed regularly
with University of Nairobi theatre groups in the 1980s, Wakanyote has in
the past few years come back to his first love, painting and fine art.
His affinity for painting became especially clear
in 2006 when he helped the Alliance Francaise produce what was then the
most comprehensive catalogue of Contemporary Kenyan Art. His text and
interviews are still some of the finest works yet to be done on Kenyan
artists.
But Wakanyote was never one to rest on his laurels.
He briefly became the chairman of the Banana Hill Arts Studio but has
taken on a new and more entrepreneurial role, serving as both a mentor
and link between local artists and the wider Kenyan art-world at the
venue he calls Sanaa Mbele.
It all began a year ago when Wakanyote opened up
his home in Muchatha for artists to come and paint in a nurturing,
non-judgmental environment.
Because he already knew scores of local artists,
Wakanyote’s initial goal was to debunk the myth that Africans do not
purchase, own, or fill their homes with fine African art.
“My feeling was that artists
needed more space in which to be creative and to share communally with
one another,” said Wak as he is fondly known.
Echoing a sentiment that artists working across town in
Hurlingham where Kuona Trust provides a communal setting to a small number of
local artists, Wakonyote has also been keen to see Kenyans establishing their own
arts enterprises, and not be dependent on foreign donors for handouts.
“We started an artist-in-residency program at Sanaa Mbele without support from any foreign donor,” says Wakanyote.
“We just knew there was room for artists to get
together and create art,” he added, noting that the small lunches he
provided for the artists who came to paint in his front yard came out of
his own pocket.
This effort provided a home for artists like Shade
Kamau, Martin Kamuyu, Martin Muhoro, and Wangari Mwagiru who had always
wanted somewhere to go and work side by side with other artists.
“Some artists like to work alone, but others are
social beings who love to feel the energy and inspiration of sharing
ideas, materials and space with other artists,” said Kamau, who has been
working at Wakanyote’s since the day he declared his home an open space
for artists to congregate and paint to their hearts’ content.
Shade Kamau's Musicians were painted at Sanaa Mbele. Pix by Xi Lin
Claiming he is not much of a mentor or art tutor,
Wakanyote says he prefers letting artists express themselves in their
own way without constraints of any kind.
“At the end of every month, we have regularly had a weekend
Sanaa Mbele Art Exhibition in which not only the artists-in-residence
but other artists are free to exhibit and also sell their work on site,”
he adds.
Placing paintings on wooden easels around his compound, on
veranda walls, and even inside his front living room, Wakanyote says the
weekend exhibitions have not only been for the artists , but for the
community at large.
“Back in the 1980s, there was something called ‘Sisi kwa Sisi’ where local artists took art to the people in the estates.
In a sense, we are reviving that idea, only now we
are bringing art to the village as well as to the wider world
community,” he adds.
But bringing art to the people is only one dimension of Wakanyote’s success.
Providing space for artists to communicate and
affirm their roles in Kenya’s creative economy is also bearing fruit,
since one can actually see the confidence and immense artistic potential
coming to light in the progressive developments that artists like Shade
Kamau, George Ngaruiya and Martin Muhoro have made in the past year.
Attract attention
There are those like Peter “Jimmy” Kiarie who had
never painted before coming to Wakanyote’s artists community but has
produced work that makes clear he’s got more than potential in the
trade.
The centre has also helped trained painters like
Wangari Mwagiru who recently returned to Kenya from University of Cape
Town, to find a conducive space to experiment without stress or duress.
Wangari Mwagir's Cityscape was painted at Sanaa Mbele pix by Xi Lin
The centre has offered a sort of incubating
environment wherein local artists have found a rare opportunity to share
not only space, but art materials and an exhibition site that is
beginning to attract attention from the wider Kenyan art world.
For instance, a brand new art centre that just
opened in Parklands that has been taking some of the work produced at
Sanaa Mbele and selling it in the blink of an eye.
Purity Senewa, like Wangari Mwagiru, also studied
in South Africa with a focus on curatorial and arts administration,
which is why she has been quick to make the connection between the
artwork coming out of Sanaa Mbele and the potential for sales.
Wakanyote also sees the sale of contemporary Kenyan art as a high priority for the artists who stay and work in his art centre.
But he’s looking at the larger picture and defines
Sanaa Mbele as meaning Kenyan “art advancing” in the broadest sense,
achieved first by strengthening the artists’ sense of confidence and
creative output and then, seeing how easily the sales can flow once
artists have gotten rid of all the colonial hangovers that made them
feel they had to wait until foreign funding arrived before they could
create credible works of art.
‘One of the most important lessons I think we are
learning is that we can all do a little something to advance Kenyan art;
we don’t have to wait for someone from elsewhere to give us handouts.
We can be self-sufficient even if it’s on a small scale,” said Wak.
“The idea is to promote one another and see the way we can advance without compromising our creativity.”
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