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Iroko Arts Consultants invites you to their first exhibition of the year by an unknown but vastly talented artist LONGINOS ONYANGO NAGILA at the Shifteye Gallery from 17th to 22nd March 2014. Take a peek at Longinos’ controversial and subversive paintings here.

About
Longinos was born in Kenya in September 1986 into a Catholic family. He grew up, filled with religious fervour and determined to join the seminary. In 2009 he travelled to Italy to start his journey to priesthood after completing his art education, a passion he wanted to expel before taking the cloth.

However an incident he witnessed at the doors of Vatican disabused him of this notion: he saw the Vatican police remain impassive as Senegalese immigrants were callously treated by State police. It seemed to him to make a parody of the very premise of Catholicism which in his naivety he had believed was to defend the defenceless.

In this cathartic moment he saw the collusion of church and state to oppress, repress and segregate the people. His belief in the church died abruptly but his faith in Christ remained intact. In the subsequent years he travelled frequently to Italy and grew in his belief that geography was indifferent to some unpalatable truths.

In this his debut exhibition in Kenya, Longinos further explores the relationship between church, state, society and the individual. He examines the themes of oppression including self-imposed (psychological) prisons which he deems are more powerful than any physical imprison; constructs that stop us even from dreaming.

In 2013 he did a film course in Italy where he studied the works of Alfred Hitchcock; he was fascinated by Hitchcock’s subtle approach to horror which he freely admits has impacted on his creative output.

Longinos speaks English, Swahili, Luhya and Italian fluently.

His exhibition experience includes a joint art exhibition at the Museo Africano Verona, Italy, 2012-2013 and a 2009 Solo exhibition at Galleria Grifone in Lecce, Italy.

Between 2007-2009 he did a diploma in Drawing and Painting at Buru Buru Institute of Fine Arts in Nairobi, Kenya. Between 2010-2011 he worked on Art projects with children at the Nairobi Children Remand including in May 2010 working as a research assistant for Professor Andy Pneiffner of Moody University, Chicago to collect information on issues affecting young people in non-formal settlements of Nairobi. The research was conducted in the slums of Korogocho, Kariobangi, Huruma, Mathare and Majengo.
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In 2011 he contributed to and edited photos for a photo journal called SANAA ZETU, published by Seismic Limited under the sponsorship of UN-HABITAT.

Longinos is actively involved in radicalising art communities from grassroots up and is a member of several organisations including being co-founder of CREATIVE CAFE, an art collective that organizes talks in the community bringing diverse artists together every month as well as co-founder of HUIPALAS ASSOCIATION KENYA.