Viva Mexico! Miriam Kyambi’s celebration of space and culture

They were taken with a small happy-snap camera (a Nikon Coolpix, for those who care to know) but I was stunned by the quality of the close-ups of those very walls that Kyambi sampled for her perspex installations. I thought at first that some were collages, such was the diamond sharp focus of her prints.

One of the installations is a peep show, a mirrored box (mounted on a camera tripod) in which little plastic figures whirl, dance, make love and generally pose. We are invited to become people watchers, like the artist herself.

In another installation, placed centrally in the hall, small wax figures are suspended from clothes hangers as though hung out to dry.

They turn slowly in the light on wires that writhe like branches between two hinged and battered doors.

On the back of one door hang a number of strings, plaited and tarred. They represent hair.

The piece is called Between Two Doors and is offered as an exploration of the artist’s interior space (and through hers, our own.) It also deals with the search for a cultural fabric that can be worn with pride. Again, the cupolas appear.

This I think is the seminal work of Kyambi’s exhibition. It is herself.

There were no drawings, nor any easel paintings… but with videos revealing the change of identities through masks created by make-up, plus prints, photographs and sculptural installations, Kyambi has shown herself to be a stunningly diverse artist who achieves a multilayered quality with whichever medium she chooses.

It is altogether a mature and stimulating show, one that marks her out as one of Kenya’s most imaginative young artists.

Frank Whalley runs Lenga Juu, a fine arts and media consultancy based in Nairobi. Email: fwhalley@gmail.com