At the National Museum of Kenya, Michael Nyerere’s exhibition Freefall is a work of sheer visual poetry. His immersive body of artworks captures men in motion, tumbling through space, suspended between surrender and transcendence.
His subjects, caught mid-fall, are rendered with arresting fluidity and shadow, their bodies bending with the grace of inevitability. In his hands, falling becomes not failure, but transformation.
The collection stands out for its exploitative use of light and colour, with lurid tones and layered shadows creating vivid impressions that blur the line between motion and stillness.
In a sense, Nyerere’s portraits steal and still time; his figures seem trapped in an eternal descent, their fragility both confronting and comforting.
“The theme of falling isn’t just physical,” says Nyerere. “It also arises from a spiritual and emotional pinnacle. Most often we visualise falling as failure, but I started to see it as a moment of truth. It's about letting go and being held between what was and what is becoming.”
Quiet Descent, an oil-on-canvas painting by Michael Nyerere, displayed during the ‘Freefall’ art exhibition at the Creativity Gallery, Nairobi National Museum, on November 11, 2025.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
Oil on canvas dominates the exhibition, with a few pieces in acrylic and mixed media. The choice, he explains, was deliberate.
“I find oil to be a more forgiving medium. It dries slowly, allowing me to manoeuvre and improvise. In this show, I was looking inward and needed something I could loop and bend with loose layers. Oil was perfect in that regard.”
Freefall’s sensory power lies in how it triggers both visual and emotional immersion. Each painting invites the viewer to inhabit the fall, to feel its weight, its freedom, its surrender.
The motion is at once realistic and abstract, and Nyerere uses it to explore the vulnerability of the human spirit. His works echo a quiet philosophy: that the act of falling can also be one of faith.
Nyerere’s journey into professional art began in 2016, but the impulses that shaped him run deep. Born, raised, and educated in Nakuru, he abandoned a course in mechanical engineering after two semesters to pursue his passion for art in Nairobi.
“My heart was into art,” he says simply.
Liberated, an oil-on-canvas painting by Michael Nyerere, displayed during the ‘Freefall’ art exhibition at the Creativity Gallery, Nairobi National Museum, on November 11, 2025.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
His parents had mixed feelings about his decision. His mother was supportive, but his father, himself the son of a sculptor, was wary.
“My father’s reluctance stemmed from his own experience with my grandfather,” Nyerere recalls. “He saw how much he struggled to pay bills, and he didn’t want the same for me. But for me, it was never about money. It was about the joy of working through a piece.”
Two generations later, Nyerere’s artistic context is vastly different. Where his grandfather’s time offered little understanding or appreciation for fine art, today’s Kenya presents a thriving scene with collectors, institutions, and a growing culture of art consumption.
“People are now more willing to receive, buy, and consume art,” he says. “It’s a change that’s happened across generations, and it’s here for good.”
Art enthusiasts view paintings during ‘Freefall’, an art exhibition at the Creativity Gallery, Nairobi National Museum on November 11, 2025,
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
His trajectory mirrors that shift. From selling his first painting for Sh1,000 to now commanding between Sh30,000 and Sh700,000, Nyerere has carved a place in Kenya’s evolving contemporary art space. Yet his focus remains deeply personal.
“Before I majored in art, I thought it was all about improving skill,” he says. “But I’ve realised it’s about storytelling, how a work resonates with an audience. It’s not just about talent, but how that talent gives meaning to what people see.”
That storytelling instinct has been shaped by years of mentorship and influence. He credits Peterson Kamwathi and Patrick Mukabi as pivotal figures in his artistic growth, with Mukabi, especially, nurturing his technical foundation. “I learned so much just watching him paint when he was based at Railways,” he says.
Freefall, in many ways, is the culmination of that learning, a fusion of technique, emotion, and philosophy. The exhibition’s title captures the paradox of descent and freedom, an allegory for both creative and personal surrender. “It’s about letting go,” Nyerere reflects. “Surrendering to the muse, to the process, to life itself.”
Nyerere’s art, however, is not detached from life. A passionate biker, he often draws parallels between the physical act of falling and the emotional dimensions of risk and resilience.
One hand to the other, an oil-on-canvas painting by Michael Nyerere, displayed during the ‘Freefall’ art exhibition at the Creativity Gallery, Nairobi National Museum, on November 11, 2025.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
“Sometimes you find yourself in situations where you fall,” he says. “But through that fall, you also discover something new, that’s what I wanted to convey here.”
As a generation of Kenyan artists continues to push boundaries, Nyerere stands among those reimagining how local art converses with the world. His practice is informed by an awareness that art’s value extends beyond aesthetics. He says it lies in its power to move, provoke, and heal.
“There is power in art that most people don’t see,” he says. “Art can influence how people think. It educates and enlightens.”
