Art bares the city's soul, advertising sells goods

Nairobi has a changing identity, part refurbished, part brand new. To complement this, makeovers such as murals are not as superficial as they appear, says Aarti wa Njoroge

MODERN AFRICAN CITIES are not typically on any tourist’s radar, with a few exceptions such as Cape Town. Often a transit point for visitors en route to places of natural beauty or human interest, they do not attempt to show or market any individuality or character for the urban sightseer.

Despite boasting a range of local and international cuisine using fresh local ingredients, Nairobi’s restaurants remain among the city’s most closely guarded secrets.

The theatre and cinema scene are still limited, though the music is as diverse as the population. In the space of a single evening and bar, you can hear a jazz interpretation of The Godfather theme and raunchy Kikuyu folk songs.

One of the most significant changes over recent times, though, is the growing availability of art. Curators and artists are now filling galleries, restaurants, and now walls.

Art for art’s sake, art in public places... Art to complement the increasing number of trees and safe-looking buses with seated passengers. Nairobi has a changing identity, part refurbished, part brand new. It might still not be advisable to wear gold jewellery or walk around after dark, but there is a more pleasant atmosphere. And this while most politicians are still living in the 1990s, attempting to redraw boundaries and throwing insults at each other!

Furthermore, makeovers such as murals are not as superficial as they may appear. The Nairobi Museum gave formal permission within two days for their wall to be painted. After this, the teamwork of 10 artists and their director, from the original sketch to the execution, to the dismantling of the somewhat precarious-looking scaffolding, led to a creativity and co-operation that were inspiring. The artists’ different backgrounds and styles, mixed with advice, instructions ("Cover the pink lines! Don’t leave the outline!") and speed from Alex Cook, the American who brought in his experience, allowed room for trial-and-error and on-the-fly changes (such as turning the strange blue eyes to a more comfortable black).

And plenty of humour. "The roller is like his girlfriend," commented John Kamicha about Peter Walala’s propensity for favouring it over the brush.

The theme of the mural at Africom headquarters seems to be gratitude: every man and every woman raise their arms to a bright sun. The changing shades of their skin (again, the result of Alex’s direction), the awe on their faces, one angular (Peter Walala has painted the male figure as he has sculpted Do Not Keep Me Waiting) and the other bulbous, the chameleon (which Martin Muhoro found at the location and included on the insistence of Andrew Njoroge, AfricanColours’ director) and the mask keep you staring for quite a while.

Add to this the changing natural light, the shadows, between moments of overcast grey, and you feel the visual arts have met the performance arts. Indeed, the whole creative process was like being at the theatre, with the design as the stage play and the final production being its interpretation. The scaffolding was the set and the director allowed his actors to improvise freely.

Murals will find their name in lights when they start catching people’s attentions more than the overpowering advertising that continues to take over Nairobi’s roadsides and now even the street lighting. Nairobi’s skyline has been developing for over a hundred years. Even if many buildings from the 1920s have been neglected and deserve to be restored to their original condition, the concrete blocks from the 1960s and 1970s that tend to dominate could be hugely improved with frescoes.

On asking a taxi driver if he had seen the mural in the Nairobi Museum complex, he was not initially sure what I was referring to. After I explained what a mural is, he admitted that he had not, but would make his way to Kipande Road. Perhaps, one day, we shall have a city map that points out the growing number of these wall paintings.