As a whole, the Kibera Arts District is a breather for the tinned landscape wildly misunderstood. On her own, she could put up an art show matching every other high-end gallery, because of her knack for being piously relentless in the quest for art.
It wouldn’t carry the fanfare or the brouhaha of larger art galleries, but quietly you will get to see work done by fine artisans who respect the work ethic.
The House of Friends Gallery might as well be the femoral artery for art and in its latest exhibition focusing on print work, it didn’t disappoint.
Dubbed "Prints", the exhibition pays homage to print artists whose work in the art world barely gets its due credit. This is bearing in mind that print art in Kenya used to be popular before it took a dip.
"Prints" symbolises the need for a larger print-making community and are a stepping stone for a larger project of a purely print studio and gallery that are looking to be launched in the Kibera Arts District within the next five months.
From the exhibition, there are works from the Wajukuu Collective, Kairos Futura and HOF/KAD, all textured to the taste of the artists whose works bear the individual imprints of their inspiration.
Curated by Jamey Ponte and Santana Sino, a walk through the collection was a throwback to some of the finest print maestros in the country, who are now polishing their wood etchings for a fresh start into the world of art that saved their lives.
Lazarus Tumbuti, Sammy Mutinda, Pablo Mukta, Kimani Kaaria, Ngugi Waweru, Abdul Rop, Winfred Mumbi, Terry Obiri, Xavier Makokha and Fabian Sakwa find their works in a gallery, where school children from the Kibera Slums freely walk in and out to admire art.
Feel the Growth artwork by Winnie Mueni displayed at HOF Gallery in Kibera, Nairobi on February 27, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
If there is one thing you get from the House of Friends Gallery and the Kibera Arts district, it is the unpretentious charm of the space.
Kimani’s work is satirical criticising government oppression and depicts a wheel about to run over the foot of a duck, which is connected to its breast.
The duck is symbolic of the hardship of people who are trying to survive, the wheel in nature represents government vehicles that run over them.
The breast signifies how women are affected by an oppressive regime and if all of them are compounded together, Kimani’s work is a perfect painting of the modern Kenyan society, that has seen its poor people trodden over when demanding their rights.
His second piece called "Opacity" speaks of the morass that is the blindness of a people that are unwilling to question wrong against the government in a way, it represents the selective amnesia witnessed by the rulers and the ruled to a form of impunity which has the country in a strait.
The art from Wajukuu Collective in nature is defiant and this is because the backdrop of the Collective is a hard life, that even forced some of the artists to stop art to survive.
On Lock Down artwork by Lazarus Tumbuti displayed at HOF Gallery in Kibera, Nairobi on February 27, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
Pablos' work is an ode to rabbits which he credits for raising growing up and he paints them playing music which is a passion that he wanted to pursue. Pablos' second piece paints his grief from a heartbreak whereby he paints a man giving his heart to a woman, who is more bothered by her reflection over the heart being offered.
"Guns and Bullets" is a reflection of what was happening in the Wajukuu Collective area. A lot of the artists and founders of Wajukuu used to be in gangs. There was a police raid to deal with the gangs and many young people were killed in the area.
This was the wake-up call for the artists to abandon crime and Guns and Bullets honours the founders who were lost to gun violence.
"Wet dream" by Sammy shows the problems undergone by artists in the Wajukuu Collective area. Because it is located in the slums, floods largely affect them every time it rains heavily a plight he highlights in the collection.
Terry's work, the painting of a Samburu woman stuck out for me in the way, allowing her subjects to breathe and in the nifty manipulation of space on a wood print. They are vibrant and bold carrying the hallmark of fine artistry. Her subjects carry a dominance that is almost a signature and a parallel to the rest of the print works.
If there is something to take home from Lazarus’ work, it would be the vibrancy of his colours, the solidity of pose and dominance of expression. It is art that calls out from across the room.
Poor Leadership artwork by Kimathi Kaaria at HOF Gallery in Kibera, Nairobi on February 27, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
If print art were to make a comeback, this exhibition would be the first knock. The show runs until April 13.
The exhibition also forms part of a larger project that is looking to have a Kenyan Biennale, a Kenyan Art Festival whose sole purpose will be to show that Kenyan artists can work together and collaborate on mega projects to uplift the Kenyan Art scene.
