I know people - Artists. Art dealers. Curators.
Brokers. Cultural managers. Art teachers. Art reporters/writers. Cultural
analysts. Artist groupies... Only problem's, I think they don't 'know me' back!
This loosely translates to me neither sitting at the 'big'
table where policies are formulated or decisions made. Nor celebrating 'gains'
and toasting to successful projects in exclusive parties.
Typical cultural parties in the Nairobi circuit have
recently become glamorous. Champagne flows freely. Food is abundant. And
conversation synthetic - mostly rhetoric. People neither saying what
they mean nor meaning what they say. These are mainly followed up by after-parties
in fancy lounges or shisha smoking joints in the suburbs and even crazier after-after
parties in downtown Nairobi to toast to development of the contemporary culture
in Kenya.
But these are the little parties. Small private
word-of-mouth-invite-only gatherings whose evidence is only on social media the
following day.
But there's a big bash coming soon! Bigger than Uncle
Bob's birthday parties (No pun intended). One worth several hundred
million shillings christened Kenya@50 - Celebrating Kenya's Golden
Jubilee.
Kenya@50 is (supposed to be) an elaborate campaign
celebrating Kenya’s greats, history makers, stories that made headlines hosted
by the Kenyan Government with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture playing
the events planner. With the 'culture folk' in charge, it's only natural
that we expect some bias towards the arts. Shock on us!
Someone somewhere thought it'd be good to celebrate our
achievements as we mark our jubilee year. Quite noble I suppose. However, am
quite dissatisfied by the lack of substance being generated. Six in ten
discourses are politics-oriented. I can live with that, I think.
What I find hard to fathom is the lethargic involvement of
those in the visual arts. The sports people are telling their stories. So are
the writers. And the fellows in music. And the perfoming arts. And business.
But not those in the Visual Arts! Why? Are they not worth telling? Don't we
know our stories? Are we not coherent enough? Or are we just plain lazy? It's almost like we're spectating in someone else's event.
In three weeks, all hell breaks loose as different players
get the chance to blow their own trumpets. The bash is on. Concert halls
booked. Champagne on ice. Sound checks conducted. Dress rehearsals done. But
haven't heard of any visual art thing happening as part of the big bash.
But then again, maybe am just out of the loop. Difference between knowing
people. And people knowing you - and sharing plans. Fifty years is a
long time. Some of us can comprehend only the last ten. Others twenty. Others
all the fifty. Am sure everyone of us who's been involved in the arts for even
a year would have something to say about the little (s)he knows. I'd expect the
long serving institutions; the Universities to have at least someone's
dissertation on our art history published. I'd hope the Museum would dedicate
an exhibition tracing/following the 50 years of the 'genuine' Kenyan
Contemporary Art practice. I'd wish to have art writers with conventional
platforms educate the populace by publishing articles relevant to this
History. I must give it up to Daily Nation's Bill Odidi, who though
not conventionally an art writer, has written some of the most (artistically)
insightful texts in the Kenyan media this year.
I'm still looking forward to indepth, well researched texts
about Ancent Soi. Or Elimo Njau. Or Rosemary Karuga. Or Samuel
Wanjau. Or Zacharia Mbutha. Or Gregory Maloba. Or Kamal
Shah. Or Francis Kahuri. Or Timothy Brooke... Not the usual shallow
praise because they just had an exhibition. Or because their works fetched
a tidy sum in an auction. But because we honestly appreciate the
obstacle they cleared for us some thirty-odd years ago. I still hope one
of those who were there before me would offer us useful and accurate
information on spaces like Paa Ya Paa, Gallery Watatu, The
Gallery of Contemporary East African Art, Rahimtulla Museum of Modern
Art... Why they were vital. And how they inspired the Kuona Trusts,
The Banana Hills, The Godowns, The One-Offs... And
probably the relevance of these current spaces (which I may offer my 2 cents
worth for the current & future generations).
We always complain of our government's complacently towards
the Arts. This could be the chance of giving Dr. Hassan A. Wario a
dossier of what we've been up to without the government's help. It
should be the time to get the government review its relationship with us.
If at all we got one. It'd be a chance to let the government know that
we're more than just a National-Art-Gallery-Rhetoric Industry. A chance
to plead our case on why Art Education is as important as medicine. As good as
engineering, secretarial studies or information technology. Better than
political science.
With all the (wo)manpower and intellect at our disposal, we
should at least be able to publish a chronology of our practice then slowly add
'flesh' to it. We must acknowledge those who were there then and have
influenced where we are now. Create a reference for the kids joining this
industry in the new year. It is the one chance we have to tell other
Kenyans what we do, why we do it and probably why we think they should give
a damn!
I believe a candid and objective look/conversation on
Contemporary Kenya at Fifty will start important discourse on what's working
& what's not. What requires amendment. Or what's broken and needs fixing.
Am a firm believer that it'd be the best time to not only start objectively
re-writing the Kenyan Art History but to also reevaluate and address issues
like institutional censorship (the what can't show where, why?) and
confront the ghost no one wants to deal with. That one of revising the Art
Curriculum in our tertiary institutions.
It's a shame for all of us that we still have no information
about us on any platform - including Wikipedia yet we're pros consulted
to help other countries in the region manage their affairs. Some old
general once said that every battle had a turning point. Our small battle
with educating our peers, documenting our history and giving ourselves a pat on
the back for our past triumphs while strategizing for the future should use
Kenya@50 as our turning point, methinks.
I sincerely hope am wrong and that there's a suprise
awaiting me. That there's a well researched book on the Kenyan Art History that
has been published. One that mentions the great men & women before us. One
that talks about spaces and institutions that shaped them while not
forgetting the events that were inportant to them. That there shall be a grand
exhibition to accompany the launch of the book. That we shall have a good bash.
Not one judged by the amount of bubbly and caviar consumed but by the clarity
of purpose. That'd be the bash with the sweetest hangover! Smiling your sore
head away the next morning browsing through the pages of accurate Kenyan Art
History... But then again, maybe am just high from secondary inhalation!
So the party's on. I got no invite and don't do shisha but
will definitely crash the after-after party most prolly in one of
the many Gentleman's Clubs in Nairobi. Or Mombasa. Maybe Kisumu.
Here, I shall raise my glass and toast to those who left before us -
Joseph Opiyo, Emmanuel Ondiff, Samuel Wanjau, Kefa
Nyayiera, John Njenga, Peter 'Ma-Clay', John Mainga, Abel
Keragori, Frank Odoi... and party with some of the true stars of
Kenya's Golden Jubilee.
