How quick thinking turned a 'serpent of Satan' into a dove of peace

Alex Cook on a case of cultural confusion that could have ended badly - but didn't

THE SHOWMAN IN ME LOVES to be the centre of attention, being creative, blasting colour into public places while people look on in wonder, delight, and confusion.

So, I was feeling great as Kamicha and I began our painting at 7am. People were walking to and fro behind us, but as soon as the first can of paint began to spray I could feel the eyes of the crowds turning to us.

A symbol I use a lot in my art is dragons. I have been using that image for years. My love of it comes from the Chinese use of dragons as a symbol of energy, life, prosperity, and vitality. To me it is a symbol of everything lively, strong, and admirable. So, they come out of me a lot. Kamicha and I had agreed that while we would be improvising most of this mural, we would base it on a theme of animals and beasts in a cartoon style. So I began my waving, curling 7-metre long dragon in bright white spray paint. Just as I had hoped, a crowd of 50 or so people were lining up behind us, talking about the work. They were pointing, also just staring, not sure what was going on. Soon I broke the barrier of silence that was between us by bidding them all
"Habari za asubuhi?"

This seemed to warm relations a little and people began asking me what we were doing, "Are you an artist?" and other such things. The dragon was coming out nicely and Kamicha was making this great lineup of three animals seated in chairs looking like Egyptian gods. I was feeling in myself, "This is it! This is what life is all about!" I was watching a fabulous, flaming, expressive mural open its wings on this dirty old corrugated wall, doing the work of creation right before the startled eyes of a crowd of strangers. This to me is the height.

After about an hour my dragon was looking wonderful. He was shining. His eyes were bright. His body curved powerfully and a simple outline of a city skyline below made him huge in the sky. But I began to hear some strange things coming from the crowd behind me. There is always someone in the crowd that wants to say that the work you are doing is crap, or it's offensive, or "Why would you spend your time doing something like that?" - but this time, it was more than just one person.

Someone said to me, "This picture, it goes against our way of life here in Kenya." I didn't know what to make of that. How could my sweet, curling dragon go against anyone's way of life? Another man said to me, "You are a good artist. Are you a Christian?" The two didn't seem to follow one another. "Yes," I said, "I am a Christian." A puzzled look was on his face. Soon I found myself in many conversations of this kind which led me finally to a horrible realisation.

IMAGES ARE INNOCENT. BUT CULTURE puts meanings to images, which give the images great power. As I listened to the words of the crowd it dawned on me that the great majority of the folks behind me were seeing this image I had made through a literal Biblical lens. This meant that this dragon, which to me was symbolising life, prosperity, and strength, was, to them, the red dragon in the book of Revelation. Without meaning to, I had painted an image of Satan devouring the city of Nairobi.

I had a knot in my stomach as I feverishly worked to understand what to do. Should I erase it? Should I leave it? Should I take off down River Road simply to save my own skin?

I believe strongly that art has the power to lead people to new ideas and new understandings. But a poorly placed image also has the power to uselessly enrage and confuse people, further leading them away from a healthy enjoyment of art, creativity, and images. It was clear to me that the best thing to do was to change the dragon into something else. As I stared at it, trying to see through it to what it should become, I saw that the two great curves of the dragon's back could be wings. The head could become a star, and the whole thing would become a bird, flying in the night sky.

I breathed a sigh of relief an hour later when no remnant of the dragon remained.