Artist using social media networks to find market

He reveals that Wajukuu Arts Project is a group of youth who do various art works such as drawing. They also voluntarily train children about drawing.

Tumbuti says that it is through this kind of art that he makes ends meet. “I rely on art to get my daily bread,” says the 32-year-old, who also does garbage collection and rears rabbits in the area in order to increase his income.

“We are paid Sh20 per bag of garbage, though we also get a lot of benefits. We get items that we collect and sell such as plastics, metals and copper,” he reveals, adding that they also get waste food during garbage collection, which they sell to those who rear animals like pigs, hence making money.

The artist says that Wajukuu Arts Project has a total of 32 members. Nevertheless, those who practise the art of drawing and painting are only eight, while the rest do other things.

The group, he says, has managed to buy a hall that it uses to carry out their work. “We did an exhibition and got money which we used to buy this hall,” says Tumbuti, who adds that they also volunteer to train young children about drawing and painting.

They get income through drawing, and sometimes they receive visitors from abroad who buy their products.

The artist sells the items through social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp. He says that he receives email messages from clients who need the products.

The group is at times lucky to get financial support from well-wishers, especially when they tour the place where they are practising art and training the children.

“They support us financially or through education, or even contribute the materials that we use. On our side as artists, we put aside 20 per cent of the money when we sell (the products), which goes to children’s projects,” he reveals.

“We started this group in 2004,” says the artist who has about 10 years of experience in drawing and painting.

Once they have trained other youth and realised that they have mastered the art, they welcome them to join the group as members.

His colleagues and he take their artworks to various exhibitions in order to sell them. Also, they sell to visitors; some of whom come from outside the country.

“Within our area there are galleries where we can go and display our work. When they are interested they buy them,” he says.

The artist adds that each item has its own price, depending on the message that is on the drawing. However, the prices are negotiable.

They sell the items from Sh20,000 each. “The prices go up to Sh30,000, depending on the products,” adds the entrepreneur.

He reveals that he gets his ideas from the real life situations, whereby he draws images according to what is happening in the society. “I try to educate people on what is happening in the places where we live in,” says Tumbuti.

Tumbuti adds that they don’t draw just to pass time, but they convey messages that they want the whole world to learn from their pieces of work.

Nevertheless, there are some challenges that they experience in this venture. One of them is getting ready market to sell their products.

Furthermore, he says that materials that they use are expensive. “Every year when you go and buy things like paint, you realise that prices have gone up,” he reveals.

He says that materials like canvass that they use have become expensive. “Initially, we used to buy them at Sh300 per metre, but now you get it at around Sh800. Paint was Sh500 per litre, but the price is high now.”

He urges youth to use their talents to make money instead of spending too much time searching for white collar jobs, which are as difficult to find as climbing a thorny tree.