Friday
August 31, 2012
August 31, 2012
Ex-priest in bid to revive gallery
Roger Sanchez, a photographer and former priest. He had previously lived
in Kenya for more than a year while serving the Catholic Church as a
Comboni Brother. Photo/Courtesy
By MARGARETTA WA GACHERU
Posted Thursday, July 26 2012 at 17:42
Posted Thursday, July 26 2012 at 17:42
Marco Grieser and Roger Sanchez came to Kenya with a
specific agenda in mind, to assist in the reconstruction of Paa ya Paa
Art Centre after the historic fire of 1997.
The photography of both men, one a German from Munich, the
other a Latin American from Costa Rica, is currently on show at the
centre as from last Sunday, July 22nd.
The exhibition, including a collection of 47
selected framed images, was opened by the Centre’s Director Elimo Njau,
with a musical prelude by the amazing blind Kenyan musician, Michel
Ongano.
All 47 photographs reflect post-inferno impressions
of Paa ya Paa. Some aspects of the centre that survived the fire, like
the steel wire and cement sculptures - one by the renowned Kenyan
artist Samuel Wanjau of the Mau Mau Freedom Fighter, the other by
Elimo himself of an eight foot tall Celebrant of Life.
The other photoprints focus on the ruins and the
way the spirit of artistry never died despite the destruction of
countless works of art and priceless texts that the Njaus had collected
over more than half a century.
The big difference between Greiser and Sanchez, is
that one is currently living in the south of France while the other is
very present, having curated the entire exhibition entitled Urembo wa Jana na Leo (The beauty of yesterday and today).
Urembo is meant to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the first post-inferno exhibition. The photography of Grieser represents urembo wa jana, the beauty of yesterday, and the images taken more recently by Sanchez are urembo wa leo, the beauty of today.
Jana refers to the year 2000 when Grieser
came to Kenya with funding from UNESCO, the UN agency concerned with
cultural development and keen to help Kenya’s first indigenous
African-owned art gallery survive and thrive.
The young German constructed sculptures out of the
scraps that remained after the inferno, and then moved on once he’d
showcased his art at the UN headquarters in Gigiri. He left behind
negatives of his artworks with Elimo for future exposure.
Photoprints developed from those negatives are what constitutes Grieser’s part of the current show.
Meanwhile, Sanchez came in 2012, having previously
lived in Kenya for more than a year while serving the Catholic Church as
a Comboni Brother.
Coming first to work with youth suffering from drug
and alcohol addictions, Sanchez served everywhere from Kibera and
Korogocho to Pokot and Turkana, before finally landing at Paa ya Paa
where he came with a fellow priest to help fix a computer for the Njaus.
Sanchez accepted the invitation to stay in one of
PYP’s artists’ studio flats. Since then, he and the Njaus have become
like a family who share similar values on a more ecumenical level.
It was during his stay at Paa ya Paa that he found a
whole new kind of soulful calling: the expression of [Christian]
spirituality through the visual arts.
That new calling is, in a sense manifest in the Urembo wa Jana na Leo
exhibition, since the show launches a whole new chapter in Sanchez’s
life, now as a layman as he resigned from the Comboni brotherhood after
he went back briefly to Costa Rica late last year.
late last year. He
will be continuing his post-graduate studies at Tangaza College in Nairobi, but
his work at Paa ya Paa as a volunteer will be his primary preoccupation.
Urembo also marks the inauguration of a joint initiative that the
former priest has started with Paa ya Paa. Twende
Kujenga is “an East African program that aims to promote a spiritual foundation
through the arts.” It’s also committed to revitalizing the Art Centre.
Explaining
the first priority of their new program, Sanchez says it will be reinforcing
what remained of the burnt out century-old house (now known as ‘the ruins’)
which Njau had bought from Oxford University Press many decades ago. Intent on
fixing everything from the ruins’ walls to the toilets, Sanchez and the Njaus
expect to see major renovations at Paa ya Paa in the coming months.
In the meantime, sales from the
reasonably priced photo-prints will all go into the Twende Kujenga kitty, towards the restoration of Kenya’s oldest
indigenous art gallery and library, which had once contained more than 7000
books, many of which were either first editions or books now out of print.
The photoprints are selling for KSh5,000 each. With a
KSh2,000 deposit one can collect the work after three working days.
Framed photoprints are selling for KSh8,00. With a KSh3,000
deposit, one can pick the framed work after five working days.
Original photographs are KSh35,000 each.
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