The first time I visited Wajukuu Arts, I hadn’t been in Nairobi for very long. My friend, who I brought along, was even newer. We didn’t realize that Wajukuu is in Mukuru slum. Or that the mabati workshop-cum-gallery building is not accessible by Uber, despite Google Maps showing a direct route. Luckily our Uber driver did know and set us down at the closest access point from which we could walk.
I also hadn’t realized that the space is not your typical art gallery with regular opening hours. I had called previously, after seeing a flyer advertising a show, asking if we could visit. They said sure, but then I didn’t make it for several days.
Looking over the rooftops of Mukuru from Waweru’s studio (Image by the author)
After being dropped by the friendly Uber driver, we tried to find our way to Wajukuu via the pin. Of course we got lost, but again, luckily everyone knew who Wajukuu were and the location of their building. When we got there, it was closed up but a young boy ran to get someone, who in turn called an artist and co-founder of Wajukuu Arts Collective, Ngugi Waweru. Waweru very kindly opened the building and showed us around the remaining pieces of the exhibition, despite it having finished (I had mistaken the dates). Since then, I have followed the Wajukuu Arts collective and its artists.
Wajukuu Arts was founded some 20 years ago, in 2004, after a group of youths from the area graduated from art college and banded together with other local young people who were also painting independently. These individuals formed Wajukuu in order to support one another in training and in marketing their works. They also aimed to build an art culture within their community in the Lunga Lunga area of the Mukuru slums.
As their website tells: “Mukuru slum sits on a hillside below the factories that make up the industrial area of Nairobi. Heavy rains carry toxic pollutants through the community, pouring into Ngong River. Once fresh and clean, the river now runs opaque; sewage and garbage clutter its banks. Enterprising urban farmers draw water from the river to sustain small shambas that grow from the toxic soil.
Wajukuu helped to feed the community when families lost everything in the floods of 2024 (Photo by author)
Nearby, a dumping site draws youth from the slum. Largely shut out from employment at the factories that pollute their community, scavenging for items to sell is one of the few economic opportunities available to the youth of Mukuru slum. Many eventually turn to crime and selling drugs. Violence and sexual assault are all too commonplace, jeopardizing the well-being and claiming the lives of many young victims.
From this landscape emerged the Wajukuu Art Project, a testimony to resilience and the capacity of people to transmute suffering into beauty. Wajukuu Art Project is a now registered community-based organization.“
Majuto ni mjukuu huja baadae
This is a Swahili Proverb which translated to English this means the actions of our parents and grandparents are felt by the next generation. This is why we are called Wajukuu, which is translated to grandchildren. We may be impacted by our parents choices, but we will do our best to influence and change the path for the generation to come.
Over the years, the artists comprising Wajukuu have changed, although Waweru, along with Shabu Mwangi and Lazarus Tumbuti are among those who remain. The collective has gained as well as lost members, and has stretched to include and support female artists.
The current exhibition “Before Our Home Goes Down” displays the work of a core cohort that currently makes up the collective: Shabu Mwangi, Ngugi Waweru, Freshia Njeri, Mugoiri Gachiani, Sammy Mutinda and Lazarus Tumbuti. The exhibition transcends the traditional gallery setting, showcasing works that tell stories, preserve histories, and envision futures.
Mute Mirror – Lazurus Tumbuti
Lazarus Tumbuti isn’t your typical artist. By day, he hustles in the vibrant slums of Mukuru. When the world slows, he picks up his brush, transforming everyday challenges into powerful works of art. He considers his art a megaphone for the under appreciated women who hold his community together. Through his paintings and woodcuts, he sheds light on their struggles and celebrates their strength.
Creating art is a form of release and therapy for Freshia Njeri. Her work serves as a window into her inner world, revealing the pain, emptiness, joy, and beauty that coexist within us all. Through mixed media, she captures the raw emotions often hidden behind social facades, exploring the complexities of feelings that are often deemed “ugly” or unacceptable. The act of creation becomes a cathartic release, allowing Njeri to shed the weight of unspoken emotions and find solace in self expression.
Inside Out – Freshia Njeri
Mugoiri Gachiani creates vibrant paintings and intricate collages that document her personal journey of self discovery. She developed her artistic practice at Wajukuu Art, where she continues to find inspiration and community.
Gachiani’s paintings, rich with color and emotion, express the freedom she finds in art, while the collages constructed from diverse materials, symbolize the fragmented nature of life and the beauty that can arise from assembling disparate elements. Her work invites viewers to contemplate the process of self-discovery and the power of art to transform experiences into something meaningful.
Bed of Thorns – Mugoiri Gachiani
Sammy Mutinda is a self-discovered contemporary visual artist, born and raised in Mukuru where his passion for art grew. He is a multidisciplinary artist. His works entail human behaviours provoked by spiritual, social and political activities. Human figures are the main subjects in his works. His works consider how we, as humans, try to attach or detach to reality or otherwise, developing coping mechanisms which may lead to self destruction or to healing.
Garment of Shuttered Dreams – Sammy Mutinda
Ngugi Waweru is a multi-media artist still living and working in Mukuru, despite international art residencies and exhibitions. Waweru is self taught, having observed his art college graduate friends in their work years ago. When he paints, Waweru tends to begin with a rough surface, reminding himself of the struggles we all go through, our inner strengths, and the knowledge that we use to overcome challenges. He often uses stitching in his pieces, which represent connections in our lives, and which play a big role in hiding and healing the individual rough paths that we may have travelled. The tension created by the stitching gives his works a sense of the struggle that life presents.
Breaking Again – Ngugi Waweru
Shabu Mwangi’s work strives to dissect human behavior and interaction. He examines what really drives us to a point of losing our primal sense of oneness and to instead focus individually on ego. He continuously reflects on the ultimate quest as a human being: the acceptance of our condition. Mwangi’s practice focuses on the structural and historical violence inflicted on the world’s citizens, such as conditions of statelessness and national misidentification. Mwangi’s disquieting mixed media compositions are especially concerned with public readings of migration, as well as its psychological consequences. His work offers insights into societal and cultural fissures that hinder national cohesion.
Muted Voices (i) – Shabu Mwangi
As Wajukuu Arts continues to grow and evolve, their goal remains the same: to make Mukuru a place where a child can thrive and to create employment through the production and sale of art works.
Through art classes, Wajukuu empowers children and youth to use art to connect with their heritage, cope with challenges they face in their home and community, speak out against injustice levied upon them, and envisage an alternative future.
“Before Our Home Goes Down” is on show through Saturday 11 January at Wajukuu Arts in Mukuru. Please contact 0722523636 or 07293065664 for directions and any further information.