Heritage

Graffiti artists paint colourful murals in solidarity with Paa ya Paa

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‘‘Garden of Gethsemene’’ by graffiti artists at Paa ya Paa. PHOTO | MARGARETTA WA GACHERU

A team of Kenyan graffiti artists have expressed their support for Paa ya Paa Art Centre by creating a colourful and contemplative spray-painted set of murals on mabati (corregated iron) fencing that stands right next to the home and headquarters of Paa ya Paa co-founder Elimo Njau and his wife Phillda.

The walls which are around seven feet high look somewhat similar to the mabati fencing erected by uninvited intruders who allege that they ‘own’ the land they are partitioning off from Paa ya Paa.

The artists, for whom the land was bought in the 1970s by Elimo’s former high school English teacher, Maurice Wolf, chose to express their solidarity with the Njaus by painting the murals.

“Maurice Wolf had retired by the time he came back to Kenya and came to see me,” recalled Njau who had been renting the house and grounds that at that time was owned by Oxford University Press.
“Maurice wanted to help us and ensure that the land would be used exclusively by and for the benefit of Kenyan artists. It was on behalf of the artists that he bought the land.

Matrimonial land

“Of course, he was also relieving me of rent payments, but he specified that he wasn’t buying matrimonial land for me. He was buying it especially for the artists,” he adds.

It was in commemoration of Wolf’s gift to all Kenyan artists that they created their new murals early this month. The artists, several of whom have created murals at Paa ya Paa in the past, are Swift Elegwa, Uhuru Brown, and Bankslave among others.

“It was the artists’ decision to create one mural that they entitled The Garden of Gethsemene,” said Njau, who recalled that in the Bible, Gethsemene was where Jesus gave his last recorded prayer before he was crucified and subsequently, according to Scriptures, he rose again.

The garden mural is the most beautiful and graphic of all that were painted by the artists. For Njau, it was also their way of conveying their appreciation of him as well as their understanding of the trials he is currently going through.