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Jambo jumbos! Now elephants are everywhere

Friday December 12 2014
EAARTWAMBUI

Satao by Jacinta Wambui Mwangi. PHOTO | FRANK WHALLEY

Suddenly elephants are everywhere.

No sooner do I devote a review to one working drawing of an elephant, than a herd of 51 of them trundles, tramples and trumpets its way into an exhibition at the National Museums of Kenya, in Nairobi. And that is not counting the life size model of Ahmed the tusker in the courtyard and various other pachydermatous pieces, including a full skeleton in the natural history section.

In fact it is, unfortunately, a fair bet that there are more elephants at the museum in this single show than there are in several of East Africa’s game parks and national reserves.

This is shocking and the reason underpinning the theme of this year’s National Heritage Art Competition for Youth (18-25 year olds); the second edition of the biennial event being organised by the museum under the title of Room for Giants: Art for Change.

It runs through January next year, and continues the museum’s excellent work of encouraging young artists through clubs, competitions and exhibitions. All entries are for sale at Ksh25,000 ($280) a pop, with the proceeds earmarked for wildlife conservation.

There was space for 41 pictures, many of which contained more than one elephant, plus around 10 pieces by professional artists to demonstrate, presumably, how it should be done.

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Actually, the entrants may have something to teach the pros. It was encouraging to see the emphasis they placed on sound drawing and if the moral message — “We love and need wildlife, so please stop killing it”— sometimes seemed a tad emphatic, the cause was worthwhile. Simply by showing the majesty of these creatures, the point is made.

Inevitably, there was the sadness that accompanies loss. It came in the tone of the artists’ messages that accompanied their pictures, and was driven home in those paintings and drawings that showed baby elephants clambering over the bodies of their parents; orphaned for ivory.

Other animals did get a look in. There were lions, giraffes, antelopes, even a zebra, but it was the elephants that stole the show. And chief among them were those drawn by all five prizewinners — first, second, third and joint fourths.

First prize went to Bruce Ogato Mokayo for his stylish ballpoint drawing of an elephant family, father and baby mourning the loss of the mother who lies dead before them. Killed by poachers. And Mokayo proved in passing that no special equipment is needed to produce good art… an ordinary Biro or Bic will do the trick.

His was a sensitive essay in photo-realism. His prize, to spend two weeks with “an internationally renowned artist” at a game lodge plus a one-month solo show at the museum.

In second place was Mwaura Gicharu, with a painting on a mirror shaped like the map of Kenya, again of a baby elephant mourning its mother, with the question drawn on the glass, “ Imagine yourselves in its place.”

The way Gicharu reached out to his audience reminded me of those full-length mirrors you sometimes see in zoos, with the slogan above them: “Now see the most dangerous animal of them all.” He won a trip to the Coast, touring galleries and museums and meeting artists plus a visit to the Arabuko-Sokoke forest.

Third was Ron Enoch Lukes with a painting of an elephant on its hind legs and a note that told us it was asking us for our support so it could reach an age when grass would grow on its flanks. His prize was a Ksh50,000 ($560) voucher.

Joint fourth were Paul Njihia Njogu and Rose Savala (third placed in the 2012 competition) and they shared a Ksh10,000 ($112) voucher. Njogu painted an elephant that morphed into a rhino, representing the region’s game parks and the animals that live in them, while Savala’s heavily outlined painting of, well, well, an elephant and a rhino looked like a study for a stained glass window and would have made an attractive one.

So, worthy winners, and there were other treats as well. These included a delicate pencil drawing of an elephant — what else — by Lincoln Kimani that barely kissed the paper, while one of the professionals, Andrew Kimani (by coincidence) offered prints of one of his pencil drawings of — you guessed! — an elephant. In both cases much care was taken with the wrinkly skin; both an artistic challenge and a delight, akin to drawing tree bark.

My favourite in this exhibition, perhaps because of the generally sombre mood, was a painting by Jacinta Wambui Mwangi of the exceptionally large elephant called Satao, recently killed in Tsavo.

Mwangi lightened things up a little, cartooning him with a look of cross-eyed horror on his face, as he saw the poachers approach. And like all good cartoons (yes, Disney included) it was anatomically wrong but entirely believable because of the way it captured the spirit and the moment with humour, economy and truth.

Frank Whalley runs Lenga Juu, a fine arts and media consultancy based in Nairobi.

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