By Ogova Ondego
Published April 23, 2014
With well planned thematic exhibitions opening almost every week, Nairobi’s contemporary art scene continues to be as vibrant as that of theatre and music. And with time, visual arts are likely to rank above performing arts. What with many exhibition spaces coming up as rapidly as they are doing lately all over Nairobi.
Living Earth, a show that explores nature, culture and environment, opens at Mediterraneo 9west in Westlands on April 26 and runs through May 12, 2014.
In the limelight shall be Dickson Kaloki, an interior design graduate who works mainly with charcoal and acrylics on canvas and draws inspiration from the slums of Nairobi, and Gemini Vaghela, a multi-media artist who is inspired by nature and the environment around her, who shall be displaying some of their most recent works.
“Living Earth combines the form of structures we live in and the earth we live on, appreciating the roles of each to sustain our world,†says Vaghela, who also doubles up as the curator of the show that opens at 3.00PM.
While Kaloki’s work captures the mood and lifestyle of Nairobi’s informal settlements, the beauty of nature is evident in the abstract forms created by Vaghela, an interactive multimedia technologies graduate.
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“As a curator I like to analyse each piece so that I can understand the idea and concept behind each piece. What attracts me to curatorial work is the desire to understand the sensuality behind each piece and picking out the unique qualities of media and artistic forms by the artist,” Vaghela says. “Balancing a curatorial concept and artwork on the show is what I hope to achieve with every exhibition I curate.”
Inviting art lovers to the exhibition, Vaghela says Kaloki and she ‘shall share their innermost thoughts and visions’ during the opening of the show between 3.00 and 5.00 on Saturday afternoon.
