By KARI MUTU

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Fourth-year medical student Safiyah Shah at the University of Nairobi, finds joy and relieves stress in art.

Despite a busy school schedule, Safiyah recently managed to produce several paintings in a few months for a solo exhibition dubbed Mama Art. It was held at the Nabo Bistro in Nairobi.

“Art helps when my mind is chaotic and everything feels overwhelming,” she says.

Safiyah has painted since childhood, but Mama Art was her first exhibition. It was inspired by a desire to commemorate her mother, the greatest supporter of her artworks, but who passed away in February 2020. Several of the paintings have mother-and-child themes, like the illustration Potion of Life. This poignant acrylics on canvas painting shows a woman with long, flowing hair seated cross-legged and cradling a nursing child to her breast.

The backdrop

The use of orange and yellow shades for the backdrop brings warmth to the deep indigo colour of woman and baby. “My exhibition was also a way to honour mothers all around the world, for the sacrifice, unconditional love and compromise they make,” said Safiyah in a statement.

Ngwenda (love) is a painting of a woman with sunflower halo cradling a baby close to her face, swirls of fabric enclosing the pair. It has the feel of Madonna and child themes from historic religious art, yet is contemporary in style and rendered in bold reds, yellows and greens.

Born and raised in Kenya, Safiyah says she was quite a handful as a child and was not diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) until she became an adult. “The arts tamed me as a child and kept me in control,” she said.

“My mum would make me practise calligraphy and got me little books where I could join the dots and practise cursive handwriting.”

Nature and artist

In school Safiyah learned more about sketching, painting and getting dimensions right, and watched a lot of YouTube videos to learn more but she has never formally trained in art.

She dropped art classes during her O level class studies and prioritised other subjects. “Yes, I wanted to be a doctor but art was always my pastime and my way of coping.”

Safiyah has a strong connection to nature, something she picked up from her mother and it comes out in her paintings. Wherever she travelled with her mother, they would find time to visit a local park, forests or outdoor places. “They say if you walk barefoot on natural ground, it helps your body adapt or ground to the location. It’s something that I did with my mother.”

That grounding has borne fruit in her creative works. In the painting Tree of Life, the trunk of a tree is formed from the body of a pregnant woman seated on her knees. Her face and branch-like arms with leaves are pulled back in a dramatic pose. Her mosaic body of brown and yellow are painted against a sunny blue that resembles the sky.

Away from canvas paintings is a large, remarkable glass painting Nurture the Devine in which Safiyah combines a mother-daughter theme with the natural world. The circular painting has a tree shaped into a woman and young girl. They have sinuous, statuesque bodies and branches for limbs that flow into the edges of the piece.

The yellow background of the glass beautifully highlights the subtle earthy colours of the illustration.

Exploring mosaics

This was only her second glass art ever, created from specially tempered glass. Safiyah searched online for techniques, materials to use and how to stain the glass. The most difficult was getting it baked because of its size and the expense involved. In the end she settled for ultra-violet lighting to help bond the paint to the glass.

Going forward, Safiyah plans to host exhibitions annually. But she is also interested in exploring mosaics or three-dimensional works such as moulding and sculptures. “I need to find the right materials to work with. I am clumsy and I don’t think steel is my way there,” she says with a chuckle.

Her journey into the Arts has been a solitary one but she hopes to interact more with more established artists and “pick their brains”.

One of her favourites is Ron Lukes, a Kenyan renowned for his hyperrealism art. Safiyah finds his work amazing. “Every time I see his pieces I am in awe and don’t think I can get enough of it.”

In the longterm Safiyah wants to continue pursuing art, not only as a good coping mechanism but also in memory of her mother who always encouraged her to paint, regardless of her career choice.