The Nairobi art scene, by now split in two, had artists willing to participate in small local fairs and one group willing to be part of the growing African brigade trying to find their rightful place on the global podium. The Godown offered the best place for this. For the first time, artists had access to private studios within a larger, vibrant arts space.
From being in a communal space with someone in charge, it was now everyone for themselves, running their own space and in charge of their own activities. This created an atmosphere of healthy competition and raised the bar of the local art scene several notches higher.
The six subsequent years at the Godown saw, for the first time, international artists in residence working alongside local artists. This helped build networks in which there was a direct peer-to-peer knowledge and skills’ exchange. It was probably also the first time Kenyan artists were properly introduced to conceptual art practice.
section2: Discovery
This phase saw some high-flying young international artists- Uchechukwu Onyishi( Nigeria), Ugochukwu Smooth( Nigeria), Yukinori Yamamura( Japan), Matt Franks( UK) and Philip Donstov( Russia)- put up a number of remarkable conceptual and interactive exhibitions.
This period was also a classic phase of a six year journey of artistic discovery where for the first time, we saw Kenyan artists participate in Dak’ Art Biennial( Senegal), Vermont Studio Centre( USA) residencies, and Kenyan artist Mary Ogembo won the prestigious Commonwealth Art and Crafts Awards.
Thom Ogonga
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