23 years on and I can see, the relevance of his work.Its true History never looks like history when you are living through it. I grew up looking at this art but now its no longer there, as Michael Joseph put it ” We ( Safaricom & Corporate Kenya ) are responsible for ruining the Wall Art in Kenya. ” because its true every Shop in the rural area where this form of art was abundant is either covered with a Splash of green and a Safaricom Logo or its In Red with Airtel branding all over or its OMO or its Coke or some other brand. U could argue that it created more jobs because Corporate Branding offers a more sustainable income, buts still what is Life without Art! I read somewhere that the aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life, I doubt that my little Kaya will see this Art’s Life.

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I remember visiting the barber shop in Buru Buru as a kid and choosing a hairstyle of a wall which had a myriad of different styles Painted, I used to love MC hammer so during the schoolholidays I would choose the MC Hammer style which had Slits on the either side. Now i go to the barber and they have photos of Singers/Actors/Athletes with different Hairstyles to choose from…Same in the Butchery, you go and all u see are Photoshoped pictures of a disected Cow with all its limbs and parts in crystal clear Photographs, in my younger days u would choose your choice piece from the Wall art doning the butchery showing the Legs, Liver etc. So much has changed in just 23 years, guess its hightime we so called photographers did our part and actually documented parts of our culture for future reference and for History. What we see around us is only here for a brief period.

I later only realised that I hadnt taken a picture of the great man so i picked this one from the capital website.

Thanks Arvind, thanks for preserving parts of our Kenyan Culture. The book is currently on sale in all major book stores with a hard cover version also available.  Let us all learn to preserve our Culture whichever way we can.

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Culture is roughly anything we do and the monkeys don’t.  ~Lord Raglan

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I was shocked not many of my friends knew of the Centre and that all the Exhibitions are free to the Public???Yeah Free. Also the centre is there for You, Yeah You. You there reading this with a Camera, with a paint brush, with a Violin, with a Poem stirring in your head…etc. The Art Space hosts temporary art exhibitions – all genres ranging from performances, visual arts, fashion, to photography and videography. The exhibitions seek to demystify the arts so that people can understand them better and appreciate the motivation behind the artists.The Art Space, which doubles up as the Events Space, is also ideal for press conferences and launches. It is equipped with a stage, and other amenities such as projectors and TV screens to relay projections or run parallel documentaries.

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So all u guys out there with super Ideas, think of something contact the Centre and see what u can showcase…Am Already thinking, so is Mutua Matheka ( http://mutuamatheka.wordpress.com/ ). I asked him plus other bloggers to come join me in seeing the centre and seeing the current exhibition so as to develop a Theme/Exhibition idea to put up. It was an amazing evening where we ended up taking shots of the Viti Exhibition plus we took some Night shots of the Safaricom HQ outside and inside. Its amazing what people can come up with if given an oppurtunity…Any way heres yours, think of what you can put up and if Art isnt your cup of Tea why dont you make a point of dropping by the MJ Centre, they are currently holding Mind Speak there, I was also lucky enough to go for a Book launch for Arvind Vohora’s Book on Wall Art…Amazing stuff al post the pics later…

See the full gallery on Posterous

See you at the Next event. To Book Ur Event at the MJ Centre hit this ( http://www.safaricom.co.ke/michaeljosephcentre/html/future.html )

Hi there,

its been long…Yeah been going around this beautiful country called Kenya. I was back in Nairobi for 2 Weeks and when I went to the Safaricom Hq I passed by the Exhibition Center aptly named The Michael Joseph Center ( http://www.safaricom.co.ke/michaeljosephcentre/) . I was amazed to find the “Viti” Exhibiton going on…Super amazing Chairs all made in Kenya. From the simple chairs sold on the Street to masterpieces from the likes of Rampel which sell for a couple thousand Dollars. I was fascinated by the decision to focus on chairs the last thing to pop in my head would be to do a Chairs exhibition. The Exhibition was catergorized in various catergories from Splendid in Sisal to Marvelous in Metal etc

I was shocked not many of my friends knew of the Centre and that all the Exhibitions are free to the Public???Yeah Free. Also the centre is there for You, Yeah You. You there reading this with a Camera, with a paint brush, with a Violin, with a Poem stirring in your head…etc. The Art Space hosts temporary art exhibitions – all genres ranging from performances, visual arts, fashion, to photography and videography. The exhibitions seek to demystify the arts so that people can understand them better and appreciate the motivation behind the artists.The Art Space, which doubles up as the Events Space, is also ideal for press conferences and launches. It is equipped with a stage, and other amenities such as projectors and TV screens to relay projections or run parallel documentaries.

So all u guys out there with super Ideas, think of something contact the Centre and see what u can showcase…Am Already thinking, so is Mutua Matheka ( http://mutuamatheka.wordpress.com/ ). I asked him plus other bloggers to come join me in seeing the centre and seeing the current exhibition so as to develop a Theme/Exhibition idea to put up. It was an amazing evening where we ended up taking shots of the Viti Exhibition plus we took some Night shots of the Safaricom HQ outside and inside. Its amazing what people can come up with if given an oppurtunity…Any way heres yours, think of what you can put up and if Art isnt your cup of Tea why dont you make a point of dropping by the MJ Centre, they are currently holding Mind Speak there, I was also lucky enough to go for a Book launch for Arvind Vohora’s Book on Wall Art…Amazing stuff al post the pics later…

See you at the Next event.