A man I consider quite wise once suggested that the key to one’s future was knowledge of their
past. My interpretation of this was that history is very important. I guess
that’s where my fascination with history started.
History and
Kenyan art/artists are strange bed fellows!
Three Sundays ago, we had an exhibition opening at One-Off Gallery
with Ehoodi Kichapi, Harrison Mburu and Michael Soi. On the same day, the elder Soi, Michael’s father - Ancent Soi was having an opening at the
Nairobi Gallery in downtown Nairobi.
That was a great coincidence. I have always tried to get the son show with the
father in the same space alongside other father-son possibilities like John Kamicha-Zacharia
Mbutha, Anthony/Jackson Wanjau-Samuel Wanjau, Lucas Sande-Jak Katarikawe… This
would not only be sentimental but would also raise the magic question. When did
this whole Kenyan Art thing start?
Who were the pioneers? What did they do? How does this affect the present
scenario?
While helping with a text that was to trace the origins of
Contemporary Art in Kenya, I realized that lack of documentary evidence and the
will to do a comprehensive research had led to serious distortions of what is
supposed to be history of Kenyan art. Most Kenyan art connoisseurs have an art history knowledge that selectively goes up
to the birth of Kuona Trust in 1995.
Strangely, they were all involved in the conceptualization and set up then they
let other people manage it! Some can vaguely reference the seventies when Gallery Watatu was started but can only
recall the last ten years of its peak (1985-1996 under Ruth Schaffner).
The arts scene pre-Watatu is the vaguest! Most of what is loosely referred
to as the ‘1st Generation
Kenyan Art’ actually attest to launching their careers at Watatu. So what was
happening before Jony, David & Hart started it?
Quite a number of elderly creatives
have stories about creating art pre-independence. It comes in different
versions as it gets distorted every time it’s shared verbally. Some seem real. Some fictional. Evidence has been
traced in some. While some have turned out to be myths - to make the story more
juicy so as to satisfy the hunger created by demand of naïve African art in
western museums.
However, a handful are quite coherent and have remained cast in stone
for over fifty, maybe sixty years. The story of collagist Rosemary Karuga; born in Meru 1928 and graduated from Makerere
(around) 1952 then went on to a long teaching career. Of Elimo & Philda Njau (of
the Chemi Chemi Creative Arts & Paa Ya Paa in 1965 to date), Jak Katarikawe,
Francis Nnagenda, Samuel Wanjau, Gregory Maloba (who started
the Kenyatta University Art Department in 1965) and the extraordinary and
ever consistent Ancent Soi – he of
the Munich Olympics Poster of 1972.
Soi (the elder) is the typical self taught and resilient
pre-independence artist who remained relevant post-independence and is still
showing into the (not so) new
millenium. Young lazy artists should
learn from him!
Born in 1937, he started selling woodcarvings and paintings by mostly
Tanzanian and Congolese artists for a politician friend in early sixties before
venturing into art himself through tutelage of Congolese Banto, who he says was the best artist in Kenya then (sic).
Previous interviews suggest that the city market and the University of
Nairobi were probably the only places practicing artists would show their work
then. It was around this time that he entered a painting in the ESSO Calender completion judged by Joseph Murumbi and he won the first
prize. His work was also included in the calendar. That is what marked the
beginning of his long partnership with the African Heritage. (Source – African Heritage)
Soi’s career continued to flourish at the time when most African countries
were getting independence and with the Munich
Olympics (1972) approaching, Africans were allowed to participate in a
competition to make the event’s poster. As fate would have it, Soi won the
first prize (1971)! This got him worldwide acclaim as Kenya’s (and probably one of Africa’s) most
talented artist.
Rumour has it that he was offered a lucrative residency in Munich in
1972 but cut it short to come back home for the birth of his first son towards
the end of the year. That son is artist Michael Soi.
Through the seventies to the nineties, there was an influx of spaces
showing and selling art – Paa Ya Paa, Gallery Watatu, African Heritage, French
Cultural Centre, Goethe Intitute…
This came with a lot of global attention
for art perceived as Kenyan and with it came a new generartion of post
independent Kenyan artists. With the new demands, most old boys of Kenyan art slowed down with age. But not Ancent.
While artists
like Joel Oswaggo, Dianga, Samuel Wanjau, Francis Kahuri, Elimo Njau, Rosemary Karuga,
Jak Katarikawe, Morris Foit (and some not
mentioned) are vanguards, we must salute the Godfather of Kenyan Art. He was never a celebrity. He was never cool. But after all is said
and done, he was there when it all
started and is still doing it – almost sixty
years on!
His long
career has made him probably Kenya’s most important artist.
The show
at the Nairobi Gallery is good but I wish
(me and wishes!) we could honour Ancent Soi with a good well curated
retrospective without all other artefacts. Just
his work. His story. And the respect he deserves. So that we can all listen
to hisStory. To help us know where we
came from as that may give us a clue to where we’re going. While giving us a
chance to write/edit our history.
In other places, they treasure their own. And they remind everyone that
seems to forget how important they are. South Africa has Gerard Sekoto, Zimbabwe has Thomas
Mukarogbwa, Spain has Valesquez/Picasso,
Italy has Michelangelo, Namibia has John Muafangejo… Kenya has Ancent Soi!
