Exhibit: Between Two Worlds, until Nov 30 2009 @ National Museum

Between Two Worlds, an exhibition of stone sculptures by Mieke van Grinsven, runs at the Nairobi National Museum until the 30th November 2009.

Mieke van Grinsven is passionate about her art.

The inspiration for her current body of work came not only from the concept of bridging her native Europe to the culture of Africa but also from the very essence of the material in which she sculpts. She works with exceptional and rare stone of volcanic origins found in the heart of the continent. Faces and torsos shine through to captivate the viewer. Rooted in the earth but reaching to the heavens, the twenty pieces created in serpentine and opal stone evoke a feeling of other-worldliness.

“The stone speaks to me”, says Mieke, “I listen to my intuition. I see faces and bodies that reveal themselves from the inner stone.” Since discovering her preferred medium in 2003 her work has evolved from primarily faces to torsos and now groupings of figures. Mieke says it was a natural evolution and she was surprised when the pieces morphed into torsos that had equal expression even without a face. She has just returned from time spent at an artist’s studio at Pietrasanta, Tuscany in Italy where Michelangelo also found inspiration centuries ago.

Now a resident of Tanzania, Mieke has lived in Africa for over twenty years.

Exhibition: Amnesia, until Dec 31 2009 @ National Museum

Amnesia: “Sindika Dokolo African Collection for Contemporary Art”
Exhibition
04.11.2009 – 31.12.2009
National Museum Nairobi/ Museum Hill
Museum charges apply
+25420 2224640, vo@nairobi.goethe.org

Amnesia is a provocative conceptual framework for a cultural process with the intention of examining the cultural and creative consequences of collective cultural memory loss. It propagates the deconstruction of cultural consequences of multi-generational breakage & colonialism, such as displacement, loss, confusion, anger, pain, fear, mis-education & identity crises.

The project celebrates the cultural clash that begat multiculturalism and from it attempts to sow the seed of a common history which the present & future generations can excel in as brothers and sisters, irrespective of race, faith, gender or heritage.

Amnesia was structured into platforms, which were opportunities for Artists from Africa & its vast Diasporas of working together and address issues related to memory, Africanity, contemporaneity, identity, sexuality, politics, to individually and collectively create new visions for a future. Participating artists included IngridMwangiRobertHutter (Kenya/Germany), Aida Muluneh (Ethiopia), Andrew Tshabangu (South Africa), Bili Bidjocka (Cameroon), Ananias Leki Dago (Cote D’Ivore), Moataz Nasr (Egypt), Peterson Kamwathi (Kenya), John Kamisha (Kenya), Ogonga Thom (Kenya), Prina Shah (UK/Kenya), Ato Malinda (Kenya), Miriam Syowia Kyambi (Kenya), Jacob Wachira Ezigbo (Kenya) among Others.

This platform, “Made in Africa” is the beginning of a long journey of curated exhibitions, will showcase works by some of Africa’s most prolific and celebrated contemporary artists, starting with pieces from the Sindika Dokolo African Collection of Contemporary Art (SDACCA) in Angola. The Sindika Dokolo African Collection of Contemporary Art (SDACCA) was created seven years ago in Luanda. Since then it has launched the first African Triennial in Luanda Angola (2007) . It has also enabled the visit of important art figures such as Miquell Barcelo, Alfredo Jaar, Professor Henry Gates Jr., David Elliott to Angola. The dream of opening the first Centre for Contemporary art in Luanda by 2012 is now a reality. The unanimous decision of the jury in the Venice biennale (2006) in selecting the collection to represent the African Pavilion has confirmed the importance of linking the art world to the African continent, while greatly underlining the value of exposing the African public to its contemporary production.

The collection shall be presented by Fernando Alvim, Curator/Artist/Vice president of Sindika Dokolo Foundation.
The project & Exhibition is curated by writer, curator Simon Njami, curator of AFRICA REMIX, founder/editor of Revue Noire.
The project is directed & hosted by Nairobi Arts Trust / Contemporary Art of East Africa (CCAEA).

In cooperation with Goethe-Institut Nairobi, Sindika Dokolo Foundation (Angola), Ford Foundation, HIVOS, National Museums of Kenya, Arts Collaboratory, Mondriaan Foundation, Stichting DOEN.

Exhibitions: Joseph Bertiers, Ernersto Houngbo, Gilles Porte, Nov 9-20 2009 @ Alliance

EXHIBITIONS
9 – 20 November
Alliance Française Galleries

FROM KENYA: JOSEPH BERTIERS
paintings and sculptures

Bertiers’ obsession with art was ridiculed by his parents until an in-law prophetically intervened, convincing the family that this might well be his future livelihood. Bertiers also holds a diploma in commercial art. His satirical and colourful pictorial commentary earned him the ‘Jury Prize’ at the 2006 Juried Competition/Exhibition organized by Alliance Française and Goethe-Institut in Nairobi. Bertiers continues to draw attention to social and political issues of the time through his brimming canvasses that display penetrating wit.

FROM BENIN: ERNESTO HOUNGBO
paintings and totems

Self-taught artist, Ernesto holds a diploma in commercial graphic design. He undertook further fine art training in Abidjan following in the vein of expressionism. He also had the opportunity of indulging in the sport of fencing which led to improved steadiness of the hand. Ernesto does not use paint brushes, he paints with his fingers. Ernesto defines his art as having gone through three stages of metamorphosis: the form (he started with figurative painting), the force (the vigour that begin to impose on the form) and the essential (he learnt to go beyond the physical to the spiritual). Ernesto has exhibited in several West African countries, in France and in England. Ernesto will be an artist in residence at Kuona Trust from 11 to 18 Nov. interacting with Kenyan artists.

GILLES PORTE
Portraits & Autoportraits

A series of portraits and auto portraits by children from over 20 countries to mark the 20th anniversary of the International Convention on Children’s rights (20 Nov. 2009).

Exhibit: Violent Cartographies, until Nov 19 2009 @ Kuona Trust

Please join us at the exhibition, ‘Violent Cartographies’ a multi-media photo installation by Hawaii-based artist, Rujunko Pugh, at Kuona Trust
Gallery, until 19th November 2009

Kuona Trust, Centre for the Visual Arts
Likoni Close, Likoni Lane, off Dennis Pritt Road, Hurlingham, Nairobi, Kenya
PO Box 4802, Nyayo Stadium 0506
Tel: (254) 0202405960
Mobile: 0721 262326, 0733 742752
www.kuonatrust.org

Exhibits: Charles Ngatia, Larisa Sjoerds, First Portraits, Nov 4 – 26 2009 @ RaMoMa

ValDor Gallery – Charles Ngatia
Charles Ngatia was taken in at the “Shangilia Mtoto wa Africa” centre in his mid teenage years. It was while there that he created art that was to be in the public domain; painting backdrops and stage sets for the centre’s performances. He however got his first for direction to be an artist, after joining Kuona Trust. Here, he was able to attend some workshops and to gain access to a studio space for his art.
One thing that captures attention in his work is the brave mix of colours that he utilizes besides the variety of material. Blue is a standard colour and forms the base over which he introduces strong, contrasting yellow and red. This, for him, is the only way to liven the environments that he is depicting in his work – ghettos, the very spaces he gets his ideas and inspirations from. He likes looking at this environment from different perspectives both visually and mentally. It is not only the ghettos that are his subject. He also experiments with collages and sculptures from found objects. The only thing that he buys is his paints and occasionally a canvas but would rather collect material on which to paint or put together as a sculptural composition.
He hopes with this exhibition, people will be able to relate to his thoughts and illustrations of his world.

Dodhia Gallery – Larisa Sjoerds
Larisa Sjoerds is a full time artist since 1996. She graduated from the Amsterdam Free Art Academy and holds a certificate of the Amsterdam School of Fine Art in Education. In 2004, a year before moving to Kenya, she started working on her “brain cell” series ( almost 40 works so far) in which she has found a theme: exploring the variety of shapes of neurons and the function and dysfunction of the human brain together with a combination of techniques that keeps inspiring her. This show at the Dodhia Gallery in RaMoMA will be her first solo show.

Rahimtulla Gallery – First Portraits
First Portraits is a quick look and exhibition of portraits primarily from artists working in the GoDown and Kuona Trust art studios in Nairobi together with a few others. It is a quick engagement with an art form that a lot of the less initiated people associate artists with. There’s numerous ways in which artists choose to represent people and other subjects besides the very traditional depiction of a person’s head and shoulders as a portrait. This is the first exhibition of a series looking into portraits and the art of visual portrayal.

The exhibitions close on 26th November 2009
RaMoMA is open 7 days a week, 9:30am – 4:30pm
closed on public holidays
2nd Parklands Avenue PO Box 1040 Sarit Centre 00606 Nairobi Kenya Tel +254 20 3748612/8 ramoma@africaonline.co.ke

IngridMwangiRobertHutter: Intruders, Oct 27 – Nov 12 2009 @ Goethe

As part of the German Cultural Weeks in Kenya, the Goethe-Institut is showcasing the first solo show by the artist collective IngridMwangiRobertHutter, born 1970 in NairobiLudwigshafen.

Ingrid Mwangi is perhaps the most internationally significant Kenyan artist. She grew up in Kenya as the daughter of a Kenyan father and a German mother and has lived in both Germany and Kenya. Assuming a single, artistically inseparable identity with Robert Hutter, they create artworks using video, sound, photography, installation and performance which are prominently exhibited internationally. Mwangi has always stayed in contact with Kenya – yet IngridMwangiRobertHutter has still not had their own big exhibition in Kenya.

The exhibition Intruders is therefore an important aspect of the cooperation between Kenya and Germany. Central to the exhibtion will be new works created for the Cultural Weeks. For the exhibition MwangiHutter’s methodology is presented: upon the particular stages found on arrival at ‘unknown places’, the objective is to intertwine with peoples’ lived reality for some moments in time.

Opening of the exhibition
27th of October, 6.00 pm

Exhibit: Interior Mood by Miriam Rinck, Oct 30 – Nov 12 2009 @ Le Rustique

Wapi, Oct 24 2009 @ Sarakasi Dome

MC: LABALAA. Performances by Judge, Wenyeji, Cannibal, DJ Steele, Eko Dyda, Lon Jon, K-Mash and DJ Tim Dawg, (Special Appearance by Kimathi of Jamhuri Wear)and much more.
From 9am to 3pm at Sarakasi Dome in Ngara Road

Exhibit: Artists Without Borders, Oct 24 – Nov 4 2009 @ Kuona Trust

Photographic exhibit: Somalia in Crisis by Brendan Bannon, Oct 6-18 2009 @ Alliance

SOMALIA IN CRISIS
photographs by Brendan Bannon
presented by the UN Refugee Agency Somalia

6 – 18 October Alliance Française ground floor gallery

One of the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world today. Over 1.3 million Somali men, women and children are displaced within Somalia and more than half a million are living as refugees in countries neighbouring Somalia. Through a series of photographs, Brendan Bannon and the UN Refugee Agency explain the suffering of the forgotten Somali people living in camps in Somalia, Yemen and Kenya.

New exhibits: Moyra Earnshaw, Shine Tani, Camille Wekesa, Kenya Quilt Guilt, Oct 7 – 29 2009 @ RaMoMa

ValDor Gallery – The Tarot – Moyra Earnshaw
The cards found me many years ago and I have been fascinated ever since by the richness of their imagery. I decided to paint the Major Trumps or Arcana, not to redesign them but through them to embark on the age old quest of the hero which appears in every culture under the guise of myth and legend. Each of these twenty two cards describes a stage in the journey of life which is crucial in some way to expanding self awareness. I have painted my response to the riddle in each card sometimes in an abstract way and sometimes figuratively. For me the cards are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for art and life.

Dodhia Gallery – Shine Tani
Shine prides himself as a self taught artist and a founding member of the Banana Hill Art Studio, which he directs today.
In the upcoming exhibition, Shine is confronting politics and the messy result it has created in Kenya in the last two years. He views himself as a recorder of information or an archivist. He says until this information is documented for future generations, then that generation will never know or understand it’s genesis. Like a preacher, there may be only one theme in the message but one has to project it in many varying ways until the message is passed on.
Shine has his work in many collections and publications.

Rahimtulla Gallery – Camille Wekesa
Camille Wekesa works primarily as a mural artist but has always enjoyed landscape painting of Kenya’s stunning and varied scenery. These paintings have been inspired by several safaris since her return from London in November last year. She visited the desolate and beautiful Shaba national reserve for the first time, travelled up to Western Kenya amongst the lush farmlands and then up towards Tsavo East with its dry scratchy bushland and verdant green vegetation along the river banks.

Ford Room Gallery – Kenya Quilt Guild
Inspired by quilters in South Carolina, USA, and with their permission, the Kenya Quilt Guild Members have created an exhibition of “Artful Bras”. This consists of over 50 original works of art which are amusing, humorous and beautiful. The aim is to make the public aware of the Breast Cancer, to re-memorise those who have lost their lives to the disease and honour survivors.

RaMoMA is open 7 days a week 9:30am – 4:30pm
open on Saturdays till 6:00pm, closed on public holidays

Exhibit: António Ole – Contrary Alignment, until Oct 23 2009 @ Goethe-Institut

The Angolan Artist António Ole is one of the most prominent artists in Africa; his works have been featured in huge biennials and joint exhibitions of contemporary art. The Goethe-Institut in cooperation with Iwalewa-Haus of the University of Bayreuth is going to dedicate the first solo show in East Africa to him.

António Ole, born in Luanda in 1951, has over four decades created an unusual multifaceted and eclectic oeuvre: graphics, photographs, paintings, statues, collages, assemblages, installations, documentary films and video works. The conflict with a history characterized by war, suffering and despair is a central theme. The aesthetic interrogation of the past is evident like a golden string throughout Ole’s Work. The focal point of the Nairobi exhibition will be Ole’s conceptual photographic work.

Exhibit: Tingatinga, Sep 25 – Oct 29 2009 @ Le Rustique

Wapi presents MC: POINT BLANK, Sep 26 2009 @ Sarakasi Dome

Performances by Jemedari, Jefro, Richy Rich, Rabbit, MC Sharon, Nuru Bahati, Sarakasi Dancers and DJ Zaq and much more
LIVE @ Sarakasi Dome, Ngara Road, Ngara, Nairobi
Saturday, September 26th, 2009, 9am-3pm

OPEN MIC: 1pm
LADIES & GENTS- Free Entry

HIP-HOP-POETRY- SPOKEN WORD — B-BOYING – GRAFFITI – ILLASSTRATION – CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP – SELF ELEVATION- STREET LINGUISTICS- FASHION- BUSINESS NETWORKING

NEXT WAPI: SATURDAY OCTOBER 24th 2009
At Sarakasi Dome, Ngara

Photo exhibit: Male Circumcision, Aug 25 – Sep 12 2009 @ Alliance

MALE CIRCUMCISION: an INTERNEWS photo journalism project
25 August – 12 September
Alliance Française ground floor gallery

Through a series of compelling photographs, 6 Internews trainees tell the underlying story of male circumcision. The images provoke stimulating discussion about male circumcisison, cultural change and the essence of photographic art.

Exhibit: Richard Kimathi, Michael Soi, Peter Kibunja, until Aug 13 2009 @ Le Rustique

New Exhibits Opening, Aug 5 to Sep 2 2009 @ RaMoMa

ValDor Gallery – A water colour Safari
Exhibition of water colours by Sophie Walbeoffe.
Sophie studied painting at the Wimbledon School of Art. She came to Kenya in1988 when she was the official artist for Operation Raleigh in Kenya. She spent weeks living in tents in the bush and she not only fell in love with Africa, but also met her future husband Piers Simpkin, who was living with the Samburu warriors of the Northern Frontier District where she would spend her next 10 years before moving to Nairobi. It is the timelessness of Kenya, the people, the wild beasts and the landscape that attract her most, but Sophie often returns to paint in England and Europe, enjoying the challenge of contrasting landscapes.
Through 2002 to 2005, Sophie was regularly drawn out of Kenya back to the souks, spices and the exotic world of the Middle East, spending several months painting in the deserts of Oman and the Gulf. Most recently she has spent considerable time in the Lewa area and her latest collection of works were painted in situ there.

Dodhia Gallery – , Anthony Okello, James Mweu, Peter Walala.
Anthony Okello’s has been working on his interpretation of tribal myth and allegory: works that he has been working on for the last 3 years. He however concedes “the only traditions I follow are my feelings towards a particular piece at a particular moment. I think that everyone should be a little more instinctive and a little less planned and programmed.” He also works on social and political commentary. “As a painter, I think I am dynamic. I grew up in Nairobi which is quite cosmopolitan and encountered different tribes and races, picking and imbibing a mix of cultures in the process… all I do is I try to tell stories and tell them well… I am just a story teller, simple.”
James Mweu will be presenting a performance piece. James has been a director for the Kunja Dance Group besides being a contemporary dance artist performing around the world.
Peter Walala is a contemporary Kenyan sculptor who has taken many unfamiliar materials and used them to expressed his thoughts. This, for example, won him an award at the Quebec Winter Carnival which attracts some of the world’s finest sculptors to compete for the title of the World’s Best Snow Sculpture. Last year he was also a participant at the Vermont Carving Studio and Sculpture Center, Kenya Artist in Residence program.

Rahimtulla Gallery – Teresa Musoke
Theresa was born 65 years ago in Kampala, Uganda and started painting early in her life. She joined the faculty of fine arts at Makerere University and later, took her post-graduate diploma in printing at the Royal College of Art in London after receiving a commonwealth scholarship award. These schools highly enhanced her abilities as a professional artist and resulted in her life commitment to becoming an educator.
Theresa went on to become the first African woman in East Africa to hold a solo exhibition in Kenya. Her work is often characterized by brush strokes and silhouettes outlining shapes of animals or animal patterns. Her main inspiration is African wildlife through which she aims to express emotion.
Theresa continues to live by her commitment conducting numerous workshops and painting regularly.

Photographers Gallery – En la Calle
Only the title is giving the observer a hint of the context in which the photographs have been taken. Wandering around the streets in a town you know as well as your own pocket, you recognize repetitive patterns, settings that keep on catching your eyes every time you are passing. But one day, in a single moment, an individual brings these attributes into a complete arrangement; waiting to be shot. And then – it is gone.
Rebekka Schraner is a 28-year-old Artist and Art Educator, born in Switzerland and currently living and working in Nairobi, facilitating a fine art workshop for inmates. By using photography, film, printing, drawing, painting and installations as media, she is making silent statements on what she perceives.

Ford Room – Samson Wakabu
Samson Wakabu, an artist who hails from Banana Hill will be having his first paintings exhibition in RaMoMA. He has been painting a lot of black and white oils and it’s only recently that he has added more colour. Evidently, the strong subject he focuses on is people in social spaces with particular detail portrayed of women’s buttocks, sometimes taking the central focus. There’s definitely fascination implied despite the critical analysis that accompany each explanation he gives for each painting: critical in a way to insinuate a disconnection and or disapproval of the very acts that he illustrates.

Safaricom Children’s Wing – Art for Eyes
Daisy’s Eye Cancer Fund will hold a Retinoblastoma awareness exhibition from the 5th to the 19th of August 2009 under the theme Art for Eyes.

Exhibit: Maisha in Kibera, Jul 30 – Aug 6 2009 @ Kuona Trust

WAPI Coming of Age, Jul 25 2009 @ British Council

Among others, performances by: Bola, Wakamba Wawili, Gadi Moja, Black Machiz, Eppy, General Maxima, Ojiji, Alai K, DJ Joey and much more
Info: 0202836000, wapi@sparkafrica.com

ArtChat #1, Jul 25 2009 @ Kuona Trust

Kuona ArtChat #1, Saturday 25th July 12pm, “The return of Sculpture?” Join the artists to discuss reactions to the current Kuona Trust sculpture show “Winter Warmer” followed by an affordable lunch in our garden and a tour of the artists’ studios.
Free entry, all welcome including kids

Exhibition: PigaPicha!, Jul 24 2009 – Jul 24 2010 @ National Gallery

Art Exhibit: Stereotypes II, Jul 15 – Aug 9 2009 @ Alliance

Art Exhibit: Ethnic Revival by Sheetal Chauhan, Jul 9-18 2009 @ Village Market

The exhibition has been extended until July 18th at 7pm

Exhibit: Winter Warmer, Jul 10 – 27 @ Kuona Trust

Photo Exhibit: Feminine Pride, until Jul 31st @ Alliance