Section1: Technical Introduction
iv
... the beginning
The Kenyan arts scene in the early 1990s was stirring with a new sense of purpose: the elections of December 1992 had seen the introduction of the multi-party state after decades of stifling Big Man leadership. Optimism was in the air and, after years of censorship( a lively Swahili language production of Orwell’ s Animal Farm was once cancelled at the Nairobi National Theatre for fear of its‘ subversive’ content), the prospect for the arts was positive. Writers who had effectively succumbed to“ the policeman in their heads” were beginning to grapple with subjects previously not touched on since Kenya’ s best known international writer, Ngugi wa Thiongo’ s escape to exile to the US. But whilst the literary world had been in the doldrums for so long, the fine arts had somehow continued to make statements, perhaps because the ruling powers never really took them seriously. The notion that a picture was worth ten thousand words was barely considered.
The collapse of the East African community in the 1970s had seen the potential development of the fine arts adrift in the spaces between Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kampala.
The tripartite structure of the universities of the three countries had allocated Uganda the department of fine arts, so Kenya had no tertiary level art school apart from the odd commercial enterprise or doggedly committed schools like Shauri Moyo run by the YMCA.
In this seemingly barren ground, however, the seeds of artistic endeavour were flourishing. The lack of formal training was no barrier to the ambition of Kenya’ s young artistic hopefuls. Self-taught artists were creating striking and original work using whatever materials came to hand. The cost and availability of imported art materials was prohibitive, but resourceful Kenyans made use of scrap metal, household paint, brown wrapping paper, board – the lack of Windsor & Newton paints could not contain their artistic outpouring. These were the days before conceptual art had been much heard of in Kenya, or the first installation had been seen. Kenyan practitioners at the time were primarily concerned with painting and sculpture. Many were inspired by the quirky and colourful wall paintings so prolific in Kenya’ s village bars and shops, advertising local wares and services, but often with a sly political message included. This( now almost defunct) wall art was one of the few opportunities offering any kind of visual art experience available to the majority of people for whom a visit to an art gallery was unlikely.