Willis Otieno lives and works in Kisumu, Kenya's third largest city, a port on the shores of Lake Victoria on the main road to the Ugandan border. His Takataka Treasures (Trash Treasures) are created with crushed egg shells on black cloth stretched over board. Along with other artists in Kisumu he is involved in developing arts and enterprise initiatives and children's arts projects. Innovation and resourcefulness are two of his essential qualities. Below he shares some of his knowledgeable insights into the day-to-day realities of art and society in Kenya.
~Overcoming Societal Divisions through Art ~
Kisumu residents suffered some of the post-2008 election violence, artists like Willis are using art to begin to heal their community.
Kisumu residents suffered some of the post-2008 election violence, artists like Willis are using art to begin to heal their community.
"Art is basically one of the components for world peace. Within our set-up this may take a while to believe! People are just beginning to appreciate art and to see that, through art, we are able to highlight effective conflict resolution and peace building techniques, and that these can build bridges of cultural understanding and mutual respect for diversity within our own community.
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Art also brings to light people's courage and greatness by calling them into positive action, creating an avenue through which all people have a voice and can experience being heard. This can be achieved by artistic creativity in both performing and visual forms of expression. The local economic trends tend to be one of our major undoings. The governments we've so far had have widened the gap between the haves and the have-nots. This trend could be altered through the creation of inter-communal Art and Cultural Exchange programs. Through these, people will get to know what is right and not allow manipulation of the community by the political leadership. They can make friends and accept each other as a family and not see each other as enemies.
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At Tong Nyang Artists (a registered Artists' Group in Kisumu) where I am the secretary, we focus on the nurturing of latent art talent in children with an aim of inculcating a sense of peaceful co-existence at a tender age. We engage the children in thematic art activities where they create images exploring their own understanding and perception of peace and other themes. The work they produce is subjected to a guided critique where they are given the opportunity to explain their art, it's inspiration and motivation, with inputs to the discussion encouraged from the other children."
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That task, and the task of earning a living, is made more difficult by the broader social, economic, and political landscape, as Willis ably explains.
"Due to socio-economic trends, the local artists' social circles are among the lower economic classes which the more affluent within our Kenyan society rarely frequent. This means that their art products are not accessed by those with the capacity to buy. The few locals that appreciate art are usually economically hard hit, so much so that art to them is a luxury they can't afford. But when an artist thinks of venturing into markets that are patronized by the better-off, the high cost and charges for the available amenities scare them off. From the petty earnings of an artist, he or she can not afford to pay the exorbitant charges for the exhibition halls visited by the wealthy.
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Most overseas visitors, on the other hand, tend to appreciate art and would always wish to carry an art piece home as a souvenir. They also tend to be more ready to buy at a more reasonable rate than the locals. But the population of foreign clients in Kisumu is so minimal in comparison to the number of local artists and art dealers, and largely seasonal too. This makes relying on the foreign market a challenge and creates very stiff competition within art business circles. It is also a reason for the great tendency for replication of artworks and the flooding of curio shops with the same types of products, killing creativity in the process! Occasionally, due to various reasons, there are travel advisories from overseas countries against visiting. Then the visitors come in even more limited numbers, further frustrating those artists who rely on them."
So there are vicious circles in play for artists, as for others in Kisumu and elsewhere, where hardship has led to conflict which in turn drives away trade. Willis and his compatriots are amongst those using and sharing their artistic and creative skills to effect positive change. kushinda! applauds both their methods and their aims, and also the artistic talent and innovation that is exemplified here by Willis's own Takataka Treasures.
Quoted text by Willis Otieno
Eggshell collages ~ Takataka Treasure by Willis Otieno
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