Student body-paints her way to tidy sum

There is this stereotype of a struggling artist which I think we should get rid of,” says Lindsay Obath, an artist who paints art and music festival participants in East Africa and runs Body Art by Ah_This.

If you are a Kenyan parent, you probably don’t think art is profitable. However, last year — when world-renowned DJ Diplo performed in Kenya — Ms Obath raised university school fees for two semesters in one night when she painted 250 people.

“Right now the body art is mainly an experience that I create at events. People come together for an event or for a cause of sorts and if everyone is painted there is a sense of community,” says Ms Obath.

Usually, Kenyans go to events with people they know, and Ms Obath is happy that her art provides an ice breaker.

“I can paint two people and they are like ‘Oh my goodness that is kind of like mine’, so it sparks off a conversation of sorts,” she says.

At events, you are likely to spot Ms Obath with a pattern painted on her face or arms, a wide smile and a paintbrush.

The sense of community that has resulted from Body Art by Ah_This’ works also led to its inception during Nyegenyege Arts Festival. “I had gone there as an artist to paint landscapes, sketch images of people and to just have an artistic inventory of my experience,” says Ms Obath.

“I made so many friends and I wanted them to be able to find me easily. I painted myself and the lady who was camping next to me so that we could be able to find each other and it rippled off into everyone who was at our section of the camping sites,” she adds.

Serendipitously, the neighbour ran an events company and offered her the first gig. Today, she is Kenya Nights’ official body artist.

Instead of charging per head, Ms Obath offers an alternative package to event organisers.

“If your guests at a festival or at a private event are not people who have a big spending ability then I usually demand for an hourly rate upfront and then I don’t charge anyone,” she says. Apart from events, Ms Obath also makes money from exhibitions and private clients for photo shoots.

She has worked with former news anchor Janet Mbugua and musician and entrepreneur Muthoni Drummer Queen.

Her work reflects the causes she cares about. Recently, she worked on a music video where Fena Gitu pays homage to matriarchs. “I was also very proud to work on another campaign called She Matters that provides a support system for women abused sexually and domestically,” she says.

Despite running a lucrative business for two years, Ms Obath says she still has to demand for people to take her seriously.

“People don’t owe me their seriousness. I have to demand it from them,” she says.

However, fighting for her dreams is not new to Ms Obath. “Since I was a child I have always been a creative person,” she says of her high school experience.

When Ms Obath sold her first painting for Sh60,000, she quit architecture school and outlined a plan to take her art more seriously.

“Even in art school right now there’s nothing we are being taught about how to manage yourself as an artist, which I think is probably the biggest downfall,” says Ms Obath.

Today, she paints over 100 people at each of the about 12 events every month. Paintings range from between Sh300 and Sh 700 per head.

Once she graduates, she plans to continue to make art and make money.

“I am looking to open up a creative village where everyone comes together with their own resources and talent and we create a package that we can sell off to either festivals or to other creative hubs where everyone has something to offer at a combined price and everyone is able to benefit equally because that also builds one a brand,” says Ms. Obath.