Exhibition: Demigods and the Demagogues by Moses Nyawanda, Nov. 10-30 2017 @ Creativity Gallery – Museums of Kenya

Party Merger, Oils on Canvas – Moses Nyawanda (via NMK)
Dates: November 10-30, 2017
Venue: Creativity Gallery, Nairobi National Museum

Exhibition by Moses Nyawanda

About
Moses Nyawanda is the last born of eight children. When Nywanda was young his mother prophesized he would become an artist. Little did she know that her prophecy had been fulfilled the day when Moses was caught sketching by his math teacher. The sketch was so good that poor Moses got a thorough thrashing after the teacher recognized himself.

After grappling with several artistic practices from photography, sign-writing, and painting calabashes, Moses eventually attended formal art classes at the Creative Art Centre in Nairobi. In three years, Moses graduated with a diploma in fine arts and held his first solo exhibition at Yaya Centre. Over 15 years later, Moses has held numerous solo shows, won several art prizes and has been an artist in residence at Kuona Trust, the GoDown Arts Centre and the Railway Museum Art Studio (where he was a founding member). He now works from his home studio and shows his work around East Africa and the world.

As part of giving back to society, Moses works with the Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TICAH) in Nairobi where he paints murals with positive messages for communities and mentors young artists.

Moses has this to say about his current artistic practice:

“At the moment, my medium of choice is oils. Over the years, I have developed a style of painting where l use a palette knife to produce layers and layers of paint so the work ends up looking like it was done with pastels. I’m currently working with vibrant yet earthy colors with subjects of people or animals. The themes I’m exploring are the interactions between people or animals as they are put into stories or situations. These storylines are usually informed by current events or personal experiences, some true, some imaginary, others fiction. I’ve investigated dating, relationships between people, sexuality, generational divides, divergent opinions, politics, corruption, love, technology and fear. These have been done in series.

I like to imagine and paint what would happen to the subjects in my work (people or animals) if they had to work through different situations, what would they say, what would they do, what would happen? Throughout this process, I look to strip apart the visual scene that emerges in my mind and put it back together in ways that reveal many different layers of reality, of thought and emotion.”

Event: Italian Archaeologists between Desert and Sea, Nov. 10-11 2017 @ Michael Joseph Centre


Dates: November 11-12, 2017
Venue: Michael Joseph Centre
Time: 6-9 pm

Programme

About
The Italian Cultural Institute of Nairobi, in collaboration with the National Museums of Kenya and with the support of the Embassy of Italy, launched in 2016 two projects in the field of Archeology, with the aim of engaging Italian excellence in Archeology and Cultural Heritage Management, to preserve and enhance Kenya’s historical and cultural heritage, as part of the actions to promote the development of sustainable tourism and in collaboration with the competent Kenyan Institutions.

In the first phase of project implementation – January and March 2016 – surveys were made in the areas concerned, and in particular:

a. Turkana Region / Rocky Paintings: Surveys at the sites of Loiyangalani (southwest) and Lokori (along the Kerio River) coordinated by Prof. Savino Di Lernia (University of Rome-La Sapienza) carried out in collaboration with the National Museum of Kenya;

b. Malindi / Mombasa Coast: Terrestrial Survey of Prof. Sebastiano Tusa, in collaboration with the National Museum of Malindi, in the areas facing the most significant underwater archaeological sites, in order to identify the possible location of a future marine archaeological park.

Mama Afrika Film Festival (formerly Udada Film Festival), Nov. 7-10 2017 @ Various Venues in Nairobi


Dates: November 7-10, 2017
Venue: Various

Program
https://issuu.com/mamaafrikafilmfestival/docs/booklet-4

About
Mama Africa Film Festival (formerly, Udada Film Festival) has been the first and only women’s film festival in the East African region. This year’s Festival focus on GENDER and will also be showcasing Udada’s winning films for the past three years.

Here is the link to this year’s Festival Program.

Exhibition: Sex and the City III by Michael Soi, Thom Ogonga & Onyis Martin, Nov. 6-12 2017 @ Alliance Française


Dates: November 6-12, 2017
Venue: Alliance Française

About
Sex & the City III is an objective look at what the three participating artists – Michael Soi, Thom Ogonga and Onyis Martin are interested in: from courtship, to sex as a tool of uplifting one’s economic status, to same sex relations, as well as the pretence of being liberal.

It looks at the thin line between culprit and victim while re-questioning the subject within the space we line in Nairobi. Sex & The City playfully (in a serious way) explores the burgeoning local sex tools industry, body enhancement and the place of moral institutions in all this.