Uweza Gallery and its founder Jennifer Sapitro had the right idea when they decided to organise the ‘Wasanii wa Mtaani’ visual art competition and especially looked for young artists coming from ‘underserved’ places such as Nairobi's Mathare, Mukuru, Korogocho, and Kibera where the gallery is based.
The exhibition and competition explicated aimed “celebrating young artists from Nairobi neighbourhoods,” their poster read, including the venue where the show would be held, Alliance Francaise.
To that end, they had established just one criterion; the artists be between the ages of 18 and 30.
“We were targeting young, up-and-coming artists from underserved communities,” Jennifer told BDLife on the day that selected judges were appraising the art that filled all of Alliance Française ’s upstairs and downstairs walls. Plus, in one corner of the downstairs show, there were scores more paintings that couldn’t be hung for lack of wall space.
Women award-winning artwork by Risper Achieng at Alliance Francaise, on August 17, 2023. PHOTO | POOL
“Those works are not necessarily less significant than the art that’s exhibited,” Jen said. “But we did try to put up the best art out of the three pieces that we had invited artists to submit,” she added, noting that they’d received 205 paintings in all.
The call out that went online to all the social media platforms and networks elicited a rich response from a wide range of artists, mainly those just starting their creative careers.
According to Uweza’s country director Japheth Okoth, the gallery was the first site of selection where the works were received. Of those 205 works, they were scaled down to 180.
After that, a jury of five, who had been recommended by Alliance Française’s Harsita Waters, were invited to come help adjudicate the finalists, first shortlisting the numbers down to 10 of their best picks.
Then, each of their final 10 were collected and collectively voted on. Ultimately, they could only pick three winners in all: the first prize and then two runners-up, one male, the other a female.
“One of our objectives was to highlight women artists which is why we created a special award for them,” Jen said whose Uweza Foundation also works with several other community service projects, assisted by a grant given by a combination of donors, including EU, British Council, and HEVA.
It was not an early process, all the adjudicators agreed since so much of the art received was quite good. The judges were five, including Thom Ogonga, artist and editor of Nairobi Contemporary magazine, Judy Ogana, representing Unesco, Anitah Kavochy, artist based at Maasai Mbili, and Margaretta wa Gacheru, author and journalist with the Nation Media Group.
And chairing the adjudication was Alliance Francaise Director Charles Courdent who expressed appreciation for the quality of much of the art already on display.
The winning artwork by Elaiah Malunga at Alliance Francaise at Wasanii wa Mtaani exhibition held in Nairobi on August 17, 2023. PHOTO | POOL
“We are witnessing the emergence of the next generation of contemporary Kenyan artists,” noted Peterson Kamwathi, one of Kenya’s most acclaimed artists who had come to the opening last Thursday night together with Michael Soi, another leading local artist who shared Kamwathi’s perspective. Coming from them meant a lot to those who knew who they were.
The place was packed by the time the winners were announced. One can imagine the enthusiasm of hearing the names of the winners.
The first prize went to Isaiah Mulunga, 21, from Mukuru Artists Collective, while the two runners-up were James Kamande, 30, from Mwiki, and Risper Achieng, 26, from Kariobangi.
The winners will receive Sh60,000, Sh50,000, and Sh50,000 respectively.
The one award the judges were not involved in was the People’s Choice which was selected on opening night by the people who came and found the ballot box at the entrance of Alliance and voted for their favourite artist, Okoth explained.
The most thunderous of hoots, ululations, and applause came when Faith Lonah Mokeira was named the People’s Choice. She’ll receive Sh25,000.
