FRIDAY, May 8, 2015
DAILY NATION'S DN2
Artists cry foul over alienation from international exhibitions
Kenyan artists up in arms over the alienation of local industry and
demand the disassociation of the country from an event in Italy this
weekend in which Italian and Chinese curators and artists plan to
represent Kenya. GRAPHIC | NATION
As the countdown continues to the official
launch of this year’s Venice Biennale art meeting on May 9, a small
storm is brewing here in Nairobi over what local artists feel is the
hijacking of the Kenyan identity in international art circles.
In
Italy, pre-opening parties have already begun with a flurry and the
central pavilion has also just opened, curated by the Nigerian art
historian and critic Ekwui Enwezar and featuring world-acclaimed artists
like Kenya’s own Wangeci Mutu.
But
the burning issue of the Biennale’s hosting a “Kenya Pavilion” continues
despite assurances in writing from one of the organisers that the
wishes of the Kenya Government not to be associated with the pavillion
will be fully recognised and respected.
That Biennale e-mail, seen by DN2, came
in response to an April 23 letter by Dr Hassan Wario, Cabinet Secretary
for Sports, Culture and the Arts, to the Biennale officials.
To
most people the letter was nothing more than just an expression of
concern over the association of the nation with the fully foreign
pavillion in Venice, but to the small group of local artists that made
noise over the same, it symbolised a bigger achievement.
RAISED A RUCKUS
They
had received word in mid-March this year that, yet again, a Kenya
Pavilion was scheduled to be set up in Venice during this year’s event.
dubbed “The Olympics of the World’s Visual Arts”, and they had
immediately raised a ruckus.
“It had
happened twice before in 2013 and 2003, and we didn’t intend for it to
happen again,” said Michael Soi, the controversial Kenyan painter whose
graphic depiction of the Chinese and Italian artists supposedly going to
Venice to represent the Kenyan visual arts community had a galvanising
effect on local artists.
In fact,
Soi’s explicit painting set the local art world on fire once it landed
on Facebook and got shared among lovers of Kenyan art, not only locally,
but also worldwide.
It wasn’t long
after the satiric portrait went viral on social media that scores of
Kenyan artists met at Kuona Trust to strategise on how to bring down the
Kenya Pavilion, or at least have the Kenya name and flag removed
altogether.
Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario meets
with representatives of artists to discuss, among other issues, the
issue of the Venice exhibition in which no local artist had been invited
to the Kenya pavillion in early April this year. Dr Wario agreed to
cooperate with them in writing an official statement which would then be
shared with the organisers of the Biennale, the Italian Embassy in
Nairobi, the Kenyan Embassy in Italy, and Mr Tanzini. PHOTO |MARGARETTA WA GACHERU
Many
of the artists felt aggrieved that Malindi-based Italian hotelier
Armando Tanzini, the only individual who has consistently shown his
driftwood art under the auspices of the Kenya Pavilion since 2003, felt
entitled to represent Kenya with a European and Chinese team.
This
year, word went round that there were two Kenyans selected to be in the
Pavilion, but as it turns out, one is a Kenya-born artist living in
Switzerland; and the other is Tanzini, who has stayed in Kenya for 47
years.
“A bit of racism”
When
interviewed by Christopher Vourlias, writing for the online version of
the Mail & Guardian of South Africa, Tanzini actually suggested his
Kenyan critics were fueled by “a bit of racism”. But for most of the
artists, race is not the issue; but representation and
misrepresentation.
The Kenyan visual
arts scene is currently vibrant and local artists are not only gaining
wider appreciation among Kenyans themselves — like Charles Murito, a
Google Kenya executive who currently hosts a monthly local art
exhibition in his home — but also gaining worldwide acclaim — as, for
instance, when Peterson Kamwathi’s artwork was recently bought for the
British Museum’s permanent collection, or the other Kenyans who are
exhibiting everywhere, from London to Brussels, Cape Town to Harlem.
AUTHENTIC RENAISSANCE
Local
artists’ reaction to the Kenya Pavilion affair is a sign that confirms
the prevailing view that local art is undergoing an authentic
Renaissance.
At what time in
history, one might ask, did Kenyan art previously thrive? And the easy
response would be that recent discoveries of 10,000-year-old rock art in
Kisii and other parts of Western Kenya confirms a lot of creativity was
being expressed by locals tens of thousands of years ago.
The
current vitality of the local visual arts scene is evident not only in
recent openings of new exhibition spaces like Shifteye Gallery, Circle
Art Gallery, Red Hill Gallery, the Last Saturday Club and even the
Sarakasi Dome, but also in the flourishing activity of artists who
exhibit regularly at more established venues like One-Off Gallery,
Village Market, Alliance Francaise, Kuona Trust, Banana Hill Art
Gallery, and eateries and bars like Talisman and Que Pasa.
All
this is to say that this time round, Kenyan artists were not going to
take the mishandling of their name lying down. At the initial
strategising meeting at Kuona, artists agreed on the way forward. They
first formed a select committee to represent them.
It
comprised Sylvia Gichia, professional photographer and director of
Kuona Trust; Lydia Galavu, curator at the National Museums of Kenya;
Judy Ogana, general manager at the GoDown Art Centre; and Wambui Kamiru,
an independent installation artist.
They
were asked to call for a meeting with the previously elusive CS, Dr
Wario, to compel him to cooperate with artists and contact the Biennale
officials and insist that the Kenya flag and name be removed from the
Venice venue.
Artists understood the
Kenya Government’s involvement was crucial, given that the Biennale’s
own press and media relations officer, Cristiana Constaino, had stated
clearly that no pavilion could have been set up in Venice unless it came
“officially through government approval”.
Artists at the Kenya Cultural Centre (KCC) attending Official Press Conference with Dr Wario and artists' representative committee. PHOTO |Margaretta wa Gacheru
So
the artists wanted their committee to prepare an official statement
with the CS to ensure the Kenya Pavilion came down. That, though, could
have seemed easier said than done since artists had tried to meet with
Dr Wario several times in vain.
When DN2
contacted members of staff at the Ministry of Culture, we were also
told the Ministry had nothing to do with the Kenya Pavilion at the
Biennale.
So the Kenya Pavilion 2015
might have passed, just as did in 2013, when a few artists and arts
stakeholders made noise but nothing was done on the part of the Kenya
government to curtail what artists felt was the country’s and the
artists’ gross misrepresentation.
KENYAN PAVILION
What
turned out to be significant this time round, however, was the quiet
but clear-sighted role played by the Director of the Kenya Cultural
Centre (KCC), Aghan Odero.
Aghan Odero, managing director of the Kenya Cultural Centre played a vital role in bringing artists and the CS together. Photo by Margaretta wa Gacheru
He had
arranged a grand tour for the CS of the newly refurbished Kenya National
Theatre in early April, and for that he had also invited artists and
arts stakeholders to attend that tour, after which they would hold their
first meeting with Dr Wario.
At that
session, held in the boardroom of KCC, the CS listened to the artists
and agreed to cooperate with them in writing an official statement which
would then be shared with the organisers of the Biennale, the Italian
Embassy in Nairobi, the Kenyan Embassy in Italy, and Mr Tanzini.
At
a subsequent press conference held on April 14, the statement was read
out in the presence of nearly a hundred local artists. At the meeting,
Dr Wario was asked to give assurance that the statement would go to
Venice, and to the relevant people, straight away.
What
has come out of this controversy is, one, that the Kenya government’s
Ministry of Culture has been compelled to take greater interest in the
visual arts, and, two, that local artists need to keep up the pressure
on the Ministry to ensure their interests are reflected by the
government.
Something else
interesting and more worrying has also come out; under the government of
Uhuru Kenyatta, the administration of culture was lumped together with
that of sports and the arts, and, according to sources within
government, sports associations visit the ministry regularly to lobby
for their interests. “That is what the visual artists need to do from
now on,” said the government official, who preferred anonymity.
On
April 14, artists were heartened by the joint statement hammered out by
the CS and the artists’ committee, but they retained a wait-and-see
attitude.
A week later, on April 23,
they finally got the official word from Venice that the wishes of the
Kenya Government would be recognised and followed.
The
following day, the artists met again at Kuona Trust, ostensibly to
celebrate their apparent success, but not all were convinced the issue
was over and the Kenya Pavilion had come down.
“The
Kenya Pavilion has been removed from the official website,” said Danda
Jaroljmek, curator and co-founder of Circle Art Gallery, who is actually
going to the Biennale to see the fruits of the artists’ labour for
herself.
Several other artists intend
to go, since some have questioned the wording of the Biennale letter as
it does not make specific reference to the Kenya Pavilion, but only to
the government’s wish that the flag and name be removed from all present
and future publicity, apart from what has already been printed, like
hard copy catalogues.
One reason for
the skepticism is the cost involved in setting up a pavilion, a lump sum
running into millions of shillings, so whomever invested that kind of
cash in the Kenya Pavilion might not be inclined to pull it down.
One
assumes that the reason curator Stagi got Chinese artists involved in
the Pavilion was because they were going to help foot the bill.
In
any case, the Italian Embassy in Kenya did participate with Dr Wario in
speaking to the Biennale big-wigs, so one assumes the Pavilion will
come down as agreed.
The painting by Michael Soi about the so-called Kenya Pavilion which was supposed to go to Venice Biennale 2015 until Kenyann artists rallied and refused to let the Ministry of Culture allow Kenya's name be misused by Italians and Chinese. PHOTO | COURTESY of the artist Michael Soi
SEEING IS BELIEVING
“The
Italian embassy has also agreed to assist us with procedural issues so
that we can start early to prepare for the Biennale 2017,” said Sylvia
Gichia.
Additionally, new light has
been shone on the origins of the original Kenya pavilion. According to
sources, Armando Tanzini sent a copy of the official document confirming
the Kenya government’s endorsement of his Kenya Pavilion concept to one
member of the local artists’ committee.
As
at the start of this week, when we finished compiling this story, the
identity of that government official in the Ministry of Culture had not
been revealed.
“It was felt that the
name of the signatory should not be disclosed since it would reflect
badly on Dr Wario, given that the person works within his ministry,”
said a friend of the artists.
What
that means, in essence, is that, officially, Tanzini’s Kenya Pavilion,
which was being curated by another Italian, Sandro Orlandi Stagi, was
actually sanctioned by the Kenya government and, as such, the Biennale
organisers did not technically need to take down the pavilion.
But
since the artists rallied and got the CS, apparently a higher ranking
official than the signatory, to step up to the plate and support their
community, the artists’ initiative has come through.
Be
that as it may, Kenyan artists say they will only be convinced the
ordeal is be over after their colleagues return with eyewitness accounts
of the absence of a Kenya Pavilion in Venice. Until then, they are
still on high alert and several are fundraising for tickets to Venice.
So,
technically, the saga continues. The vigilance, now combined with the
vibrancy of Kenya’s visual arts, is bound to ensure Kenyan artists’ role
in the global as well as local art worlds is assured for many years to
come.
