20 Most Influential Africans: one is Maggie Otieno

Pardon me for not yet figuring out how to turn my images so that you can see Maggie and Kamal Shah without craning your neck. Pole sana, Sorry! But there is Maggie and I wanted to feature her today since she was just listed as one of the "20 Most Influential Africans" primarily for her work at www.africancolours.com, the online Pan African art gallery that is doing so much to enable to world to see how brilliantly contemporary African art is progressing. It's a fast moving website, vigilant to keep track of what African artists throughout the region are doing. And Maggie together Andrew Njoroge are at the heart of the website. To use Goffman's performative terms, Maggie is 'front stage', while Andrew is 'backstage'. That is not to disparage either one, just to say they work together very well. Maggie is also a gifted sculptress and painter whose work has been shown all over Africa, from Algiers to Johannesburg and from Lagos to Nairobi. I'm proud of Maggie for being named, especially as she seems unphased by all the publicity. She's busy and that's why she's understood to be influential

Yep, that's me on the most efficient mode of public transport [after the matatu] in Kenya. Called a boda boda, this motorcycle taxi [also known as a piki piki when not commodified] is a life saver since matatus will only take you so far. Then once you want to go off the beaten path and you don't have the luxury of owning, renting or borrowing a car, nor do you want to walk forever [as i did around Nairobi in 2009-2010], then nothing can be better than a boda boda. And yes, i have been accused of being quite 'cozy' with my driver, but hey, who wouldn't be grateful to get a lift to some long-distanced destination. In this instance, i am just leaving Paa ya Paa Art Center off the Kiambu Road. Paa ya Paa people are Elimo and Phillda Njau and it's the first indigenous-owned and established art center in Kenya. Okay, Elimo is a Tanzanian by birth and came to kenya via Uganda and Makerere University, but his first wife Rebekah was a Kenyan and his contribution to the Kenyan cultural scene is immense and indisputable, despite some neo-colonial forces trying to erase him from Kenyan history! Not possible, especially as i have written about him extensively in my doctoral dissertation called: Globalizing Kenyan Cultural: Jua Kali and the Transformation of Contemporary Kenyan Art: 1960-2010. And just a footnote: the boda boda first appeared at the border between Uganda and Kenya, and it initially was a term that referred to a bicycle taxi used by riders to help travelers get across the no-man's land that exists between the two countries. Sometime in the early 21st century, the bicycle became a motorbike, and sometime around the same time, the motorized two wheeled taxi was taken up by Kenyan jua kali entrepreneurs who saw there was a need and thus a market for its services. I love boda bodas, as you can see from the photo!

Is she awesome or what!! The artist/sculptor is Kepha Mosoti who is based at Kuona Trust. The site is the Village Market in Nairobi, and the event is the 2nd annual Ministry of Culture, Nairobi Visual Art Exhibition simply known as Manjano, meaning Yellow suggestive of Sunshine: what we enjoy almost 360 days of the year in Nairobi. The name was suggested by Joy Mboya as the other Ministry title was long and cumbersome. And the name is sticking. I helped organize it last year, played a minor role but was part of the planning committee that sought to persuade Kenyan artists that they should drop their distrust of Ministry of Culture and take part in this show. Last year's success showed artists they should get involved so this year looks even better than last. Adjudicators Carol Lees of One Off Gallery and Liza MacKay of ISK and one other person. Great choices. But it is Kepha's sculpture that caught my eye. Last year during the Taboo exhibition at the Goethe Institute, he was more of a minimalist, but this progression to larger than life size work is awesome. I am thrilled but i would love to be there. Two grand events, back to back: first the February 1st Auction/Raffle at Kuona Trust which i gather raised more than 2 million and now, the Manjano Show, through out the month of February is a glorious way to begin 2011. Exciting that it coincides with the year i hope to get my degree. 2011 will go down in history!!!

Kuona Trust: Februay 1, 2011 A Night to Remember

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Kuona+Trust+Night+to+remember&aq=f. 
I am still inept as a blogger so i recommend you go to YouTube.com and check out Kuona Trust. that is Feb.1, 2011 Auction night that raised heaps of cash hopefully for the artists. an amazing event!

Tabitha wa Thuku

I have known Tabitha for many years, and i love to see the way her work has evolved. Increasingly impressionistic and abstract. What i also love about her is her energy, enthusiasm, and initiative. she has exhibited globally, not only in Kenya. She has shown in Athens at the Olympics, in Hong Kong and has even organized her own one-woman show in Milan, Italy. I love her 'Mule', the name she gave to her own beat up car, and i love the way she stands up for herself in a male dominated art world. she has no problem mentoring young artists like Robert Njoroge and Sam Njuguna, who appreciate her talent and love being around her bountiful spirit. Bravo Tabitha whose smile lights up the day, even more brightly than the beautiful equatorial sun of Nairobi, which i miss terribly.

Hallelujah!

I'm still singing the Hallelujah chorus to Cairo, Egypt, rejoicing for the people of Egypt and the whole world. the implications of Mubarak's fall are not just for the Arab world; they are for Africa as well and even for the USA where our democracy is being eroded by Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court which has allowed corporate money to steal our democratic process, corrupting it with cash and crass elitist grabby non-popular interests. So i refuse to listen to those dubious about the demise of Mubarak, and i detest hearing that Israel might want to re-invade Gaza, God forbid. I say we support the Egyptians and trust Allah/Mungu/God our Mother-Love to bless the events of today and the future.

Mubarak steps aside: Power to the Egyptian People!

Awesome news flash at 10:15am Chicago time: Mubarak has stepped down and ceded to the Supreme Military Council. We pray the council will fulfill the pledges it just made to end the state of Emergency that Mubarak held as criminal 'rule of law' for 30 years. the Egyptian people have set the stage for a global awakening of people power!! The millions who are in the streets all across Egypt have proved that popular democratic uprising have power! Of course, there were maneuvers behind the scenes by the Americans, French, British, etc. But the fact that the military has been divided between the elders and the young officers is also great. Let us pray that the revolution in Egypt goes all the way and popular rule takes hold and we see the African Renaissance bloom from Cairo on down to Cape Town.

www.foot-notes.org

Bravo to Gor Suodan and Co. for launching an online East African arts journal. www.foot-notes.org. can make waves, and i am all for them.

Picasso sells big again: Recall his African connection

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/arts/10iht-melik10.html?ref=arts.

Okay, Picasso's 'La Lecture', a sleepy reading girl, just sold at Sotheby's for $40.7 million on Tuesday, February 8. Bravo! Is this crazy or what? Well, it's a sign that there really is an uber-elite with money to burn. It also reflect economic instability and the perceived surety of fine art's enduring value. Now, when will the global market place recognize how incredible are the artistic activities going on in East Africa right now, especially in Kenya? And how often do we recall that one of Picasso's key sources of inspiration is African art!

Maasai Mbili buddies forever!

This must be the reason I started this blog, to show off my images of great artist friends from Kenya. I love these guys: Maasai Mbili is what they call themselves, though all are not represented here. Standing across from their 2-story base in front of what they have claimed as The Ruins Dept because they are officially "slum dwellers" based in Kibera, Kenya's largest slum and one of the biggest in Africa. Their job in beautifying the slum comes easy to them because their spirits are beautiful. Left to right are Solo 7, then the founder of the ground, Gomba Otieno, then Chakara, Stevo Irungu and finally, Mbuthia Maina. Long story about them which i won't go into now, but i am feeling great affinity for Gomba right now as he is 'stranded' in Vienna, having been 'discovered' by wazungus as a wonderful artist with a great sense of humor and charm. He writes on Facebook that he misses the smelly, overcrowded, bustling, noisy, dirty slum life of Kibera, and i feel with him. I miss Nairobi too and hope to get back there soon. In the meantime, i will see how to share my images and my writings on these incredibly imaginative Kenyan artists.

Google Art Project

Google's got a brand new Art Project www.googleartproject.com that is well worth looking at.

'The magic of Elimo's mountains in art'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2011/feb/08/mountains-leonardo-giambologna-art. In the Guardian today, February 8, 2011, Jonathan Jones writes about the magic of mountains in art and refers to painters like Leonardo di Vinci, who of course, is a spectacular painter. But i get fed up with the fact that Western writers on art rarely examine the wonderful work of East African artists. The above painting is just one mountain scene painted by elimo njau for his five Murang'a murals, which he completed back in 1958. Rarely if ever referred to in African Art books, leave alone Western art books, the murals are Elimo's enduring legacy, despite their having been discredited by Ngugi wa Thiong'o for having been painted under the patronage of British colonials who meant for the murals to commemorate what Ngugi and the Mau Mau would call 'home guards' who died during the Mau Mau war of independence vs. British colonialism. The murals have been neglected for decades either because of no art appreciation or because they were seen as art painted by a traitor to the kenyan people. But the latter assessment is too simplistic and the murals have immense merit, not the least of which for their mountain magic. This Baptism scene [that's an African looking Jesus being baptized by another African John the Baptist] is only one of the five murals that has portraits of Mt Kenya. I'll share more in blogs to come.

Dissertation defense: January 11 & Feb.4, 2011

I have to thank Kenyan artist Kaafiri Kariuki for allowing me to use this image of his painting in my dissertation defense earlier this year. The image exquisitely captures what i wanted my writing to convey, that i'm writing about Globalization and the African Renaissance, specifically Kenyan contemporary art and its transformation over a half century. Yep, that's what i did, focusing on 'jua kali' or informal sector work as what Raymond Williams calls an 'emerging cultural practice'.... so i focus on artists like Kaafiri who are independent spirits and cultural workers who i describe as 'jua kali artists'. More on all this in future blogs. I still have to get comfortable blogging my 'stuff'....i only want to blog information that is informative, useful to others, especially to the artists and insightful. I hope to make a practice of featuring incredible Kenyan artists like Kaafiri in days to come.