The August shows are gone and the September ones have begun. There are a raft of shows opening this weekend. Have a look at our full listing of the art to see iN Nairobi this weekend and in the month of September.
NEW EXHIBITIONS
Solo Exhibition | Edwin Jongo
Mzee by Edwin Jongo
Opening Friday 6 September | Until end of September
Jongo’s work primarily explores the lifestyle of the common mwananchi (ordinary citizen) utilizing unique materials such as used cutting and grinding discs as well as thin piping cord. These matericals are arranged on canvas to create figures with geometric features, giving his innovative artwokrs a distinctive and modern edge.
Under the Swahili Tree, Karen @undertheswahilitreekenya
Gratitude Conversations – an Experience by Le Bois Sacré
7 September, 6pm – 5am
“An invitation to immerse in expanded universes, where cycles and seasons of life, captured through unbounded works of art, become a kaleidoscope expressing profound gratitude. A tapestry of transcendental portals interlacing arteracts and soundscapes beyong time, space and perceived realities to (re)connect with Spirit within Self and through Community”
The MIST x Munyu Space, The Mall, Basement, Westlands @munyu_space
The Shifting Identites of Africa | Achieng Owira & Rosette Aweko
“African Aesthetic” (left) by Aweko Rossette and “Aminata” (right) by Achieng Owira
Opening 7 September, 2-5 pm, with Artist’s Talk at 3pm | Until 29 September
This exhibition by Achieng Owira and Aweko Rossette explores how cultures and lives in Africa are changing drawing on their individual lives, experiences and understanding of life in Kenya and Uganda.
Aweko Rossette is a self-taught Ugandan artist based in Nairobi. Her vibrant art is created with several layers of multi coloured dots that overlap and intersect resulting in visually striking art. Through her art, Aweko explores the rich tapestry of African culture and seeks to remind people to pause and see the positive things life has to offer. While some of her work explores challenges and pain, most of her art is a reminder to not just focus on the ifficulties Africans are experiencing but to see anda experience the joy in our lives and cultures.
Achieng Owira is a Nairobi based artist with a studio at the Kuona Artists Collective. Through her contemporary art, Achieng interrogates shifting identities of African people as they navigate modern society. She often focuses on women – untying their identities from the men in their lives. She frequently examines the gap between who society says women should be and who they can be when they exercise theirn autonomy and remain authentic to who they are.
National Art Gallery of Kenya, Nairobi National Museum @nationalartgalleryofkenya
The Unchosen Ones | Almogera Abdulbagy
Image courtesy of Ardhi Gallery
Opening 7 September, 3 – 6pm | Until 30 September
Almogera’s paintings stimulate the viewer’s sense of beauty in various areas, moving from collage and insulation to pure abstract and bold figuration. He uses innovative mediums, materials, and concept elements, demonstrating familiarity with delicate operations that evoke spontaneous responses from viewers reflecting a transformative experience.
Ardhi Gallery, Ole Sangale Link Rd. @ardhigallery
Observation III | Samuel Njuguna
Affection by Samuel Njuguna
Opening 7 September
In this vibrant exhibition, Njuguna brings his love for African landscapes, culture, and everyday life to life through his unique mixed-media artworks. His innovative use of colour and texture captures the beauty and complexity of Africa, offering visitors a chance to reflect on the world around them in new ways.
Banana Hill Art Gallery, Banana Hill
Threads of Time | A Fabric Art Exhibition
6-8 September, 10am – 6pm daily | Free entry
Kenya Quilt Guild is proud to announce the biennial Quilt Exhibition, a breathtaking display of stunning quilts. There will be free demonstration of interesting quilting techniques, mini workshops and an incredible marketplace showcasing a variety of creative handmade crafts.
Loita Hall, Sarit Centre, Westlands. See @kenyaquiltguild for workshop details
The Station x Rahiem Shadad | Exhibition of Huzifa Siddig & Waleed Mohamed
8 September, 1 – 5pm | With music, food and drinks | By appointment 12 – 14 September
Both recently landed in Nairobi through the Martin Ruth Initiative award for artists under risk, these artists present intricate conversations about the past and the present and the various spaces where power dynamics take place .
Huzifa’s artistry and style is influenced by his architectural background and thus in his works we see a funky play between three dimensional shapes and flatness of figures. He expresses through his work the way the relationship between an oppressor and an oppressed individual unfolds. Using the chair as an iconography that reflects how he always viewed Sudan as a big waiting room.
Waleed is a graduate of the faculty of fine and applied arts with a great passion for the art of photography. More specifically he is drawn to the era of photo studios and the highly orchestrated photos of that time and what they tell us about the society. He is attracted to the process of decay and the slow fading of familial archives.
The two artists represent a highly contemporary and unique category of artistic expression from the Sudanese art scene.
The Rest Residency x The Station Pop Up, Ngara Rd, next to Soma Nami Books @weare.thestation
Wander | Derrick Munene
10th September – 07 October
Talisman Restaurant, Ngong Rd, Karen
Unstable Worlds| Souad Abdelrassoul
Years of Service | Various Artists
Opening 14 September, 3-7 pm | Until 9 November
A collaborative exhibition, curated by Jamey Ponte, around recycled materials showcasing bodies of work from artists Savior Juma, Bernard Musyoki, Njogu Kuria & John Ruitha. These artists have a history of utilizing post-consumer materials. Such materials can be viewed as having a past, having had a different story or purpose to the lives of consumers, in contrast to the current iterations that these artists have transformed them into via their various artistic processes, giving the materials new roles and visions, to be interpreted by the viewer.
HoF Gallery, Kibera @hofgallerykibera
Shifting Tides II | Various Artists
Image by Chesta Nyamosi
Opening 14 September, 12 – 7pm | Until 5 October
A collaborative exhibition organized by 7ARTISTS and KOBO TRUST recognizing and showcasing the work of young professional artists currently residing in Kenya who are not represented by any commercial galleries or in collective art centers. The exhibition explores themes of renewal, self-discovery and reinvention. These works of art captivate us on many levels: we are invited to explore ideas of self, community, legacy, and collective memory, drawing meaning from visual equations of shape and color. The twenty-four artists on show give us examples of how art can be used to rewrite a personal narrative, and are motivated to use their creativity to send a strong message of inclusion and unity in the arts.
The Kobo Artists Gallery, The Kobo Trust, 523 Riara Rd. @seven.artists
Watching You, Watching Me (photographs) | Talitha Puri Negri
Series of eye images by Talitha Puri Negri
Until 22 September
Puri Negri says of her works: “My work consists of two parts; the first is composed of 32 eyes. Today’s society is constantly watched and influenced by social media and by the viewers browsing history. The 32 eyes shown together but printed separately, convey the feeling of being constantly watched. In fact if you look carefully, the photographers reflection can be seen in the eyes. The eyes are also the window to someone’s soul or, as others prefer to call it, consciousness. Do the eyes also offer an insight into the personality? Can you match the eye to the portrait? Is that how you expected the person to look? The second part of the work is a series of diptychs and a triptych that portray details of every day life, people, buildings and nature. All the details that we miss, as again we are distracted by the constant images on our phones, on our computers and on billboards. These details build the connection, the balances of nature, that interconnectivity we so often forget or ignore.”
One-Off Gallery | 28 Lone Tree Road, Rosslyn @oneoff_gallery_kenya
We Are Parlour Soldiers | Beatrice Wanjiku
Until 22 September
Parlour Soldier V by Beatrice Wanjiku
The title of this exhibition is taken from the essay ‘Self-reliance’ by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This series is about love, care and service to man which is expected of us, in regard to how we treat each other. These works call for introspection; a call to return to ourselves. A call to assess the person in front of the mirror. Especially in these times. These works focus on our internalised core feelings, as we individually seek to remedy our self-imposed ethical dilemma. The forms depicted in these artworks are uncloaked, stripped of skin. The rawness contained in this collection speaks to our most intimate selves. These paintings aim to break free from the societal expectations; which are generally restrictive. The mood is one of focusing on ‘our inward gaze – a focused concentrated awareness of being.’ The title “We are Parlour Soldiers” is referencing this inward gaze.
One-Off Gallery | 28 Lone Tree Road, Rosslyn @oneoff_gallery_kenya
In Transit Under Another Sky | Various artists
Image courtesy of Kamene Cultural Centre
Until 21 September
Curated by E.N. Mirembe @subtleroyalty and Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo @rosie_olang , this exhibition, in their words, invokes the fugitive nature of art and artists working in-between spaces, considering physical geographies as well as other marginal identities and what emerges from the positionality of transience.
The exhibition features 11 artists; Larry Achiampong, Jessica Atieno, Letaru Dralega, Wezile Harmans, Kabi Kimari, Liz Kobusinge & Darlyne Komukama, Peterson Kamwathi, Mogoi, Neema Ngelime, and SCARLETMOTIFF.
Kamene Cultural Centre, Santock Estate, Ngong Rd. @kamene_centre
Sex & The City VI
Image courtesy of Alliance Française
Until 22 September
In its sixth edition, the protagonists continue to parody the goings-on in spaces within the city while continuing an objective conversation on this subject. This exhibition is in no way intended to glorify substance abuse and promiscuity.
Alliance Française, Utali Lane, CBD @afnairobi
Open Your Eye | Leo Mativo
Until 15 September
Tribal Gallery, Loresho Ridge | Tel: 01114 78453
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS – A bit more time to see them
CHARLES SEKANO – 1943 – 2024 | in memoriam
Until 8 September
Charles Sekano was born in Sophia Town, Johannesburg in 1943, his youth overshadowed by apartheid. It was in Nairobi in the 1960s, amid the isolation of exile, that Sekano forged himself into both a self-taught artist and a musician – and where he worked as a jazz pianist in the multiracial bars and nightclubs.
His artistic expression was and is informed by the sense of loss experienced after his family was uprooted and by the resultant severing of family bonds. Women – those that he immortalises in his works – became his world and his artistic language. During his years of exile in Nairobi, Sekano waged his own passionate war against the Apartheid regime with paintbrush and crayon. For him, colour itself began to symbolise freedom.
Whilst influences of Picasso, Braque’s Cubism, Toulouse-Lautrec and Henri Rousseau’s poster art are clear in his work, Sekano has always rooted himself in the realities of cosmopolitan urban Africa. The nightclubs and bars of Kenya, with their female clientele from diverse cultures across Africa, were his subject matter and remain his inspiration. Sekano is never moralistic, always humanistic – his works celebrate and preserve moments.
Charles Sekano has exhibited widely in Kenya, Holland, Germany, Japan and the US. His works are in private collections across the world and in various museums, including the Völkerkunde Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, and the Peabody Essex Museum, in Massachusetts, USA. (Source: Ed Cross, London, UK)
Red Hill Art Gallery, off St. Julian’s Road, Gatatha Rd, Red Hill.
In The Absence | An exhibition by Wajukuu Art Project
Until 14 September
Featuring work by Ngugi Wawere and Shabu Mwangi, this exhibition comprises an installation that juxtaposes corrugated iron with traditional construction materials such as dry grass and mud, underscoring shifts in perceptions of home. It envisions a communal space where contemplation and healing can take place amidst disorder. Altered images in the mirror encourage observers to surpass their accustomed identities. Through the sounds and natural vibrations of Tibetan singing bowls and poetry are intended to bring healing in the midst of societal unrest.
The African Arts Trust | Victoria Square, Riara Rd. @theafricanartstrust
60 Years – The NCAI Collection
Fabian Mpagi: Untitled (Portrait of the artist’s mother and younger brother), 1977
Until 14 September
Since its establishment, NCAI has assembled a collection of artworks that spans six decades and encompasses a diverse range of artistic expressions from the region. “60 Years” will feature selected modern and contemporary works from this collection by artists from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, offering a nuanced exploration of East Africa’s cultural and artistic evolution.
The exhibition title, “60 Years,” speaks to the temporal scope of the artworks and reflects NCAI’s commitment to chronicling the dynamic history of art-making in East Africa. Featured artists include modern masters such as Afewerk Tekle, Theresa Musoke, Pilkington Ssengendo, and Ancent Soi, alongside contemporary artists like Syowia Kyambi, Richard Kimathi, Peterson Kamwathi, and Chemu Ng’ok. The exhibition will highlight seminal pieces that mark key movements in East African art history and contemporary works that engage with current socio-political themes. Some works mark key moments in the evolution of particular artists’ practices, and collectively, the selected works contribute towards a narrative of modern and contemporary art that is reflective and forward-thinking.
Nairobi Contemporary Arts Institute (NCAI), Rosslyn Riviera Mall, Limuru Rd. @ncai254