ACCESS: ‘Raw|Roots|Real’ Exhibition

Brings 14 East African Artists to Cincinnati

CINCINNATI, OH — Friday, May 22, 2026, the annual Canvases of Kenya exhibition returns to Cincinnati under the new branding: ‘Raw|Roots|Real’. Curated by artist Jamey Ponte (Babu), the exhibition moves the "outward voice" of East Africa onto local gallery walls.

Artwork Descriptions:

20. 
Title: Untitled 45

Artist: Tevin Noel

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Size: 55cm x 50cm 

Price: 38,000kes / 300usd

Tevin shares, “What can I say. Words are not my power, but I can paint you an image telling my story.” He paints from a place he refers to as self-sabotaging, an arena where nothing makes sense but there’s this beauty to it. He embraces and paints the beauty he envisions in his mind not so much a real landscape.

With his works nor being real -it gives him a freedom to explore the natural environment that he reflects on from his walks through nature. He wants you to experience the bounce of light on the leaves or the heat form the sun hitting your face. The shadows that casts something unknown.  Untitled 45 shares a gloomy day, day not such a bright full sun on your face. But maybe a cooler walk with some wind blowing on you. A feeling of cold and dampness. You see it in the leaves of the fern and the grayish sky filling the canvas.

21.   
Title: Untitled 41

Artist: Tevin Noel

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Size: 55cm x 45cm

Price: 38,000kes / 300usd

Tevin shares, “What can I say. Words are not my power, but I can paint you an image telling my story.” He paints from a place he refers to as self-sabotaging, an arena where nothing makes sense but there’s this beauty to it. He embraces and paints the beauty he envisions in his mind not so much a real landscape.

With his works nor being real -it gives him a freedom to explore the natural environment that he reflects on from his walks through nature. He wants you to experience the bounce of light on the leaves or the heat form the sun hitting your face. The shadows that casts something unknown. Untitled 41 shares a late evening sun falling into the soon to be darkness.  Is it a small fauna pant just near the ground or is this a large pine tree… Noel won’t share that answer and does it even matter?  But take the stroll through this imaginary hike and breathe deep and smell the fresh air.

22.   

Title: Into Uncertainty

Artist: Yusuf Mirumbe

Medium: Oil on water color paper

Size: 29cm x 42cm 

Price: 19,000kes / 150usd

Lead us into uncertainty.

Not into the safe rooms of doctrine, nor into the well-lit halls of what we can prove. This piece is about religion—the little we know is all we cling to. Creeds, rituals, stories they are small rafts on a vast, dark sea. And that sea is the great unknown. It makes religion look meaningless, at first. Because what meaning can stand against infinite silence?

But that is precisely where we base our faith. We believe because there can be no faith in what is known. Only in the unknown does belief draw breath what we cannot hold, cannot name, cannot prove.

So lead us there.

23.   

Title: we the meek

Artist: Yusuf Mirumbe

Medium: Oil on  canvas

Size: 61cm x 68.5cm

Price: 38,000kes / 300usd

The piece depicts a young man walking away, his posture carrying a sense of hopelessness. He represents the vulnerable members of a community — those left behind by war and conflict — attempting to walk toward recovery or refuge. His movement captures both the physical journey of displacement and the emotional weight of trauma that such experiences leave on individuals and communities alike. The artist uses this solitary figure to speak to the lasting, life-marking impact that conflict has on people, particularly the most vulnerable.

24.    

Title: The path of chastity

Artist: Yusuf Mirumbe

Medium: Oil on water color paper

Size: 29cm x 42cm

Price: 19,000kes / 150usd

The piece depicts a single lady dressed in traditional religious attire. Her clothing is modest, covering her hair and body in a style that signals a long-standing, formal commitment to her faith or practice. She is shown in a posture of meekness and obedience, head slightly bowed, hands folded or resting quietly.

The work explores how meekly and obediently we follow our practices of worship or other things we value—such as meditation, prayer, or yoga—as a way of connecting to a greater being. The lady embodies this: her pose and expression suggest disciplined repetition, a humble surrender to ritual.

Yet the piece also shows that these practices vary independently. What looks like light and devotion in one person might, from another’s perspective, appear as darkness. The lady’s face or the lighting around her carries this tension: her serene obedience could be read by an outsider as blindness, rigidity, or even suffering. Her light, to someone else, might look like darkness.

The piece further reminds us that we often find ourselves judging people like her—criticizing her path as too strict, too lost, or too narrow. But we ourselves have similar practices that we pursue to give our lives meaning, to mark time as a milestone. The lady is not separate from us; she is a mirror. In her traditional attire and her quiet, chaste pose, she represents every person who follows a discipline—including the viewer’s own.

The overall feeling is not judgment of the lady, but a quiet invitation to recognize: her path of chastity, however strange it may look to us, is no stranger than our own.

25. 

Title: Head Held High I (Head Held High series)

Artist: Fridah Ijai [Click Here to Hear Fridah’s Audio Artist Statement]

Medium: Ink, coffee, acrylics, charcoal, pastels, graphite, collage on paper.

Size: 28cm x 31cm

Price: 49,000kes / 385usd

Head Held High series is a mixed media body of work on paper that balances intuition with deliberate reflection. Each scribble, mark, and fragment of primitive text is rendered with intention, a conscious act of reclaiming space and asserting presence within the world.

Textual elements serve as both guide and invitation, offering insight into the artist’s perspective while allowing viewers the freedom to engage with the work through their own interpretations.

The Title Head Held High reflects the deliberate act of lifting one’s head as an assertion of confidence and personal power. It extends an invitation to viewers to embody resilience and presence, encouraging them to stand tall in the face of their own lived experiences while navigating the work through their individual perspectives.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: On plain white paper, three heads look up and to the right. The first head is surrounded by blotchy black ink. Its face is blank and a pair of round glasses are drawn over where its eyes should be. A messy red circle sits inside each of the lenses. The second head has less black ink surrounding it and is instead outlined in pencil. Some facial features are now defined, like the nose and mouth. It also wears glasses with messily drawn red in the lens. The third head is the most distinct. All facial features are present and are almost hyper realistic. He wears the same glasses, but the red fills the entire lens perfectly. All three heads look up to a red circle surrounded by a circular coffee stain. The three heads sit on top of a small staircase with three steps. Red thread is sewn through the paper to create this set of stairs that ascend up and to the right. Below the threaded steps, a phrase is messily written in pencil,

“evErRy SteP says
I Bend I bruise
buT I do NoT disapper.”

Some letters are randomly capitalized, and the word "disappear" is misspelled. Above the three heads, to the left side of the page, there is also the phrase “HeAd HelD HigH” written in pencil.

26.   

Title: Head Held High II (Head Held High series)

Artist: Fridah Ijai

Medium: Ink, coffee, acrylics, charcoal, pastels, graphite, collage on paper.

Size: 28cm x 31cm

Price: 49,000kes / 385usd

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: Two heads look up at a red circle surrounded by a round coffee stain. They both wear glasses with red acrylic circles drawn inside the lenses. A blot of ink surrounds the head to the right and extends to his side. A thick, black rectangle is drawn below the head to give him a long neck. The head to the left has instead a series of rainbow colors scribbled below the neck—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. There are multiple abstract shapes layered in the space between the two heads—messy dots of ink, charcoal and graphite scribbles, and red acrylic marking. At the bottom of the page, there is some text written in pencil, which says

“HeAd HeLD High
I darE the sTorm to sPeAK
I do NoT steP BAcK, I steP iN to.”

27.   

Title: Head Held High IV (Head Held High series)

Artist: Fridah Ijai

Medium: Ink, coffee, acrylics, charcoal, pastels, graphite, collage on paper.

Size: 29cm x 29cm

Price: 39,000kes / 306usd

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: There is a head facing forward and slightly tilted up. The shape is similar to a bust in that the only parts of the body that appear are the head, neck, and the start of the upper body, cutting off at the collarbones. There is an elongated space in the middle of the neck, where a series of small horizontal lines are drawn in rainbow colors in acrylic. To the right is an abstract blob of red, orange, and yellow. Above the head, a detached hand is lifted. The palm faces down. In the background is a collage of stripes in oils and acrylics, ink blots, and a pencil sketch of the detached hand.

28.   

Title: Head Held High V (Head Held High series)

Artist: Fridah Ijai

Medium: Ink, coffee, acrylics, charcoal, pastels, graphite, collage on paper.

Size: 29cm x 29cm  

Price: 39,000kes / 306usd

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: There are coffee stains throughout the paper. A man wearing large sunglasses looks up and to the right. Only his head and neck are visible. There is a circle drawn in pencil around his head. There is a close-up view of the front of his face, fit like a hyper realistic photo inside his neck, where it has been elongated and stretched down the page. To left, the following phrase is written in pencil, “My eYes ARe SEt on sKiEs so WiDe.” To the right, is a series of ink markings—small strokes next to each other that roughly fill up the space of a rectangle. Layered underneath is a pencil outline of the same man facing himself. Inside the pencil outline, the word “HOPE” is written in red and then crossed out. A compass is drawn below, along with the phrase “WitH HoPe as my comPass I’LL nEveR hiDE - Head Held High.”

29.    

Title: Head Held High III (Head Held High series)

Artist: Fridah Ijai

Medium: Ink, coffee, acrylics, charcoal, pastels, graphite, collage on paper.

Size: 28cm x 31cm

Price: 49,000kes / 385usd

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: Two heads look up at a red circle surrounded by a round coffee stain. They both wear glasses with red acrylic circles drawn inside the lenses. Another larger coffee stain forms a horizon that sits in line with the heads. This coffee stain extends down, providing a light brown background to the bottom half of the page. The head on the right side of the page has six horizontal acrylic lines drawn beneath its neck. Each line is a different color of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. There are multiple abstract shapes layered in the space between the two heads—messy dots of ink, charcoal scribbles, and red acrylic markings. At the bottom of the page, there is text written in pencil, which says,

“HeAd HeLD High”
likE tHe MorNing does quietly
Without AsKing PermiSSioN”

30.  

Title: Father

Artist: Maori Wasike

Medium: Etching print

Size: 13cm x 15cm

Price: 16,000kes / 120usd

Father is a continuation of my exploration of identity, perceptions around masculinity and maturity. The symbolism of the bull in the bukusu initiation process is vast, however bulls in the modern world mostly only exist for either labor or beef. I try to contrast between the traditional significance of this animal and contemporary reality characterized by material culture and a priority towards financial gain. I do this to question the nature of masculinity and expectations around manhood in contemporary society.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: A bull stands facing away to the right, with its head low to the ground. The etched marks are layered in a crosshatching pattern to show depth and detail in the bull’s hair.

31.   Title: Mother

Artist: Maori Wasike

Medium: Etching print

Size: 13cm x 15cm

Price: 16,000kes / 120usd

Mother is concerned with the feminine nature within masculinity, exploring the dual nature of life and identity. The pairing of “Mother” and “Father” hopes to get men to reconsider what strength means and their general perception around masculinity and manhood.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: A cow walks to the right and grazes on some grass. The etched marks are layered in a crosshatching pattern to show depth and detail in the cow’s hair.

32.   

Title: Mother’s Lap

Artist: Maori Wasike

Medium: Etching print

Size: 13.5cm x 14.5cm

Price: 16,000kes / 120usd

Mother’s Lap depicts a child in his mother’s lap, reflecting on innocence and purity before the child is morphed by societal norms, before the beginning of his struggle with Identity, before he is made into a man with expectations. Masculinity in contemporary society is a very sensitive issue often vilified, almost justifiably, this work invites us(mostly fellow men) to rethink the nature of masculinity and consider softness as a part of it.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: A young boy sits in his mother’s lap. She holds him and smiles. The young boy stares blankly forward. The etched marks of the print are mostly all diagonal lines sloping down and to the right.

33.   

Title: Whistle Blower

Artist: Rasto Cyprian

Medium: Mixed media (acrylic and fiber glass on canvas)

Size: 45cm x 45cm

Price: 45,000kes / 354usd

The whistle blower is a depiction of the shift of images of self, inclined to how people take it in for themselves or to what is in their environment. The constant shift of self-image to adjust with internal and external changes.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: This mixed media piece depicts a man. Strands of black thread are sewn into the canvas to make up the outline of his shoulders, neck, left ear, and head. Extra pieces of thread are placed abstractly throughout the man’s hair and forehead. No facial features are defined.

34.   

Title: The Hub

Artist: Rasto Cyprian

Medium: Mixed media (acrylic and fiber glass on canvas)

Size: 45cm x 45cm

Price: 45,000kes / 354usd

The hub is a representation of the bone and flesh that covers the chest cavity. A hub where everything comes from, like that one of a wheel.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT:  This mixed media piece depicts a “hub” of bone and flesh. These long strips of bone and flesh meet in a spiral-esque form at the center of the canvas and stretch out of frame on all four sides of the canvas.

35.   

Title: Day Dreaming

Artist: Rasto Cyprian

Medium: Mixed media (acrylic and fiber glass on canvas)

Size: 45cm x 45cm

Price: 45,000kes / 354usd

The ironical activity of taking a shower outside where no one is watching you naked, but you still cover yourself .A nostalgic representation of the outside spaces used for private practice and morality.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: This mixed media piece depicts two bare legs standing still. The calves, ankles, and feet are within frame. The ground looks like sand or dirt. Water trickles down the legs.

36.   

Title: Mother Of My Daughter Series # IV

Artist: Santana Sino

Medium: Mixed Media (Acrylic, charcoal, text transfer and card paper on board)

Size: 30cm x 42cm

Price: 16,000 / 120usd each

Mother of My Daughter is a series of works exploring the identity of women beyond motherhood, examining how society frames their worth, image, and voice. It confronts difficult realities—early pregnancy, sexual violence, and complex relationships—that leave women navigating life with absent fathers and unanswered questions. Through this lens, the work reveals the quiet burden placed on mothers to explain, defend, and remember. The absence of the father becomes a presence, echoed through the child’s persistent question: “Where is Daddy?” This exhibition challenges societal judgment and invites reflection on memory, responsibility, and the unseen emotional weight carried by women.

37   

Title: Mother Of My Daughter Series # III

Artist: Santana Sino

Medium: Mixed Media (Acrylic, charcoal, text transfer and card paper on board)

Size: 30cm x 42cm

Price: 16,000 / 120usd each

Mother of My Daughter is a series of works exploring the identity of women beyond motherhood, examining how society frames their worth, image, and voice. It confronts difficult realities—early pregnancy, sexual violence, and complex relationships—that leave women navigating life with absent fathers and unanswered questions. Through this lens, the work reveals the quiet burden placed on mothers to explain, defend, and remember. The absence of the father becomes a presence in itself, echoed through the child’s persistent question: “Where is Daddy?” This exhibition challenges societal judgment and invites reflection on memory, responsibility, and the unseen emotional weight carried by women.

38 through 41.

Title: I CAN’T SEE print 2nd edition

Artist: Santana Sino

Medium: Silk screen print & acrylic on paper

Size: 21cm x 29.7cm

Price: 5,000kes / 40usd each

This series explores identity and stereotypical views, examining how the presence of hair reshapes the way society interprets and responds to those who wear them. In the African set up dreadlock has been common amongst different people as a message of free spirit and freedom. Which has brought a lot of harm amongst the young people in the country (Kenya) associating them with vices and negativity amongst people in the community such as irresponsibility, crime and drugs.

42.   

Title: Rest

Artist: Edwin Thuo

Medium: Oils and acrylics on canvas

Size: 50cm by 50cm

Price 70,000kes / 550usd

Rest, a chance for you and I to take a step back from the ever so unforgiving and bustling machinery that is life, this piece whispers for us to put our feet up once in a while and find rest.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: The background is a bright, streaky blue, with hints of a darker purple. A metal can lays on its side and somebody rests their feet on top of it, wearing light blue Converse with bright pink socks. Beyond the feet and legs, the rest of the person’s body remains out of frame. 

43.   

Title: Flightless dreams

Artist: Edwin Thuo

Medium: Oils and acrylics on canvas

Size: 50cm x 50cm

Price 70,000kes / 550usd

I see dreams.

Dreams of better, dreams of joy, dreams of more.

But they seem to be flightless dreams, we hold on tightly, but deep down we know they can’t fly.

We hold on to one too many a thing that we should have let go of ages ago, but we firmly maintain our grip.

In this piece we are confronted by the absurdity of it, this shall not fly, and maybe letting go might be the only way both for you and I.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: The background is bright blue. A man in a yellow motorcycle helmet holds a rooster with two hands and keeps it close to him, near the side of his head.

44.   

Title: Hidden gaze

Artist: Edwin Thuo

Medium: Oils and acrylics on canvas

Size: 40cm x 40cm

Price: 50,000kes / 400usd

Eyes are the gateway to the soul, a window for us to gaze at the inward being of those we meet eyes with.

Without them could we still navigate our way to inner city walls of their souls.

In this piece her gaze is hidden, but her smile persists, her smile performs like we all do, signaling an outward peace with inner turmoil hidden neatly behind her hidden gaze.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: The painting depicts a close-up portrait of a woman’s head. A green ribbed knitted hat hides the top half of her face, covering from the middle of her nose to the top of her head. On top of that, she wears a blue ball cap turned sideways. Her lips slightly curl up into a peaceful smile.

45.   

Title: Namba yako ni??

Artist: Dennis Ndegwa (Bull)

Medium: Acrylic on repurposed paper

Size: 47cm x 35cm

Price: 35,000kes / 275usd

What's up with those Gen Z? This piece depicts two elderly subjects as they glance over the distance and watch and question what some youth/gen z are doing. Gen Z subjects are not physically depicted, yet they dominate the psychological space of the composition. The elders are not merely judgmental; their observation carries ambiguity; part concern, part confusion, part reluctant admiration. Similarly, the unseen youth are not explicitly glorified or condemned. Instead, the work invites the viewer to sit in that gap of understanding, where generational narratives often fail to meet.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT:  The background of the painting is made up of the paper packaging from a bag of flour. On top of the paper, two figures are painted—a bodaboda driver sitting on his bike, waiting while a younger man stands next to him, preparing to pay for his ride. The younger man wears a coordinated black and white outfit, a red baseball cap, and a watch on his wrist. The bodaboda driver wears a tan coat and a beanie on his head. He watches concentratedly as the younger man pays.

46.   

Title: Hii bill yote

Artist: Dennis Ndegwa (Bull)

Medium: Acrylic on repurposed paper

Size: 45cm x 45cm

Price: 45,000kes / 354usd

This piece depicts a bodaboda rider as he sadly looks at a bill and wonders of how high it is. The bodaboda rider's expression carries the weight of uncertainty and fatigue, shaped by long hours, unpredictable earnings, and the constant pressure to provide. There is a tension between effort and reward, an unspoken question of whether the grind is enough, whether tomorrow will be any better. The scene suggests an environment where opportunities feel limited and survival demands persistence beyond exhaustion.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: The background of the painting is made up of ‘unga’ paper (normally used to package corn flour, but has now been repurposed to act as a canvas for the painting). The paper has a few folds and creases and reads “LOWLAND” in large print. On top of the paper, a man is painted sitting on his bodaboda (a public transport motorcycle) in a bright orange vest. He seems tired—his head is down, and shoulders rolled forward.

47.  

Title: Kungoja Customer

Artist: Dennis Ndegwa (Bull)

Medium: Acrylic on repurposed paper

Size: 47cm x 35cm

Price: 35,000kes / 275usd

This piece depicts a bodaboda rider awaiting a customer. This piece distills the bodaboda economy into one of its most telling moments, not the ride itself, but the waiting. A rider positioned in anticipation, suspended between effort and outcome, becomes a powerful symbol of how much of the hustle is defined not by motion, but by uncertainty attributed by economic conditions in Kenya. High competition within the bodaboda sector, rising fuel costs, and limited disposable income among customers all compress earning potential.

In essence, the artwork frames waiting as labor in itself. The bodaboda rider is not inactive, he is engaged in a quieter, more psychologically demanding aspect of work, holding space for opportunity in an economy that does not guarantee it.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: The background of the painting is made up of the paper packaging from a bag of flour. The painting depicts a man sitting on top of his bodaboda (a public transport motorcycle). He rests one foot on the ground and his hands on the handles, seemingly waiting for a customer.

48.   
Title: Breadman

Artist: Dennis Ndegwa (Bull)

Medium: Acrylic on repurposed paper

Size: 35cm x 35cm

Price: 30,000kes / 236usd

This piece represents a bread delivery rider who makes his deliveries early morning before the city awakes on a daily basis with his bodaboda. The bodaboda here is more than a mode of transport, it is a lifeline. It speaks to the informal economy that sustains a large portion of Kenya’s workforce— flexible, immediate, but also unstable. The rider’s daily routine suggests discipline and resilience, yet the emptiness of the crate disrupts that narrative. A delivery rider without goods to deliver implies interrupted flow: no stock, reduced demand, or inefficiencies in the supply chain. In economic terms, it signals stagnation.

Rather than dramatizing hardship, the piece leans into subtlety. It doesn’t show collapse; it shows continuity under pressure. And that’s where its strength lies—it reflects a reality where people keep moving, keep working, even when the systems meant to support them feel temporarily hollow.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: The background of the painting is made up of repurposed paper from some sort of food packaging. The painting depicts a man standing in a bright orange vest next to his bodaboda (a public transport motorcycle). Stacks of bread sit nearby.

49.   

Title: Ama nirudi Chuo

Artist: Dennis Ndegwa (Bull)

Medium: Acrylic on repurposed paper

Size: 45cm x 45cm

Price: 45,000kes / 354usd

This piece depicts a youthful bodaboda rider as he sits and questions himself on whether he should go back to school to further his studies. This piece centers on a moment of internal negotiation rather than physical action, a youthful bodaboda rider paused mid-hustle, caught between continuity and change. The bodaboda, typically associated with movement, urgency, and income generation, is here rendered still. That stillness is significant, it embodies a large demographic in Kenya, young people who have entered the informal economy out of necessity rather than long-term choice. The bodaboda offers immediate earning potential, autonomy, and accessibility. It is a pragmatic response to limited formal employment opportunities. His questioning of whether to return to school introduces a tension between short-term stability and long-term investment. Education, in this context, is not just about learning; it represents delayed gratification, financial sacrifice, and risk.

The question “Should I go back to school?” becomes less about education alone and more about agency, risk tolerance, and the search for a sustainable future within constrained economic realities.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: The background of the painting is made up of the paper packaging from a bag of flour. The paper has a few folds and creases and reads “AFRIKA MAIZE MEAL” in large print. The painting depicts a young man sitting on top of his bodaboda (a public transport motorcycle) with his arms crossed. He looks frustrated and contemplative.

50.  

Title: Rada ya wale Gen z

Artist: Dennis Ndegwa (Bull)

Medium: Acrylic on repurposed paper

Size: 55cm x 45cm

Price: 50,000kes / 394usd

What's up with those Gen Z? This piece depicts two elderly subjects as they glance over the distance and watch and question what some youth/gen z are doing. Gen Z subjects are not physically depicted, yet they dominate the psychological space of the composition. The elders are not merely judgmental; their observation carries ambiguity; part concern, part confusion, part reluctant admiration. Similarly, the unseen youth are not explicitly glorified or condemned. Instead, the work invites the viewer to sit in that gap of understanding, where generational narratives often fail to meet.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: The background of the painting is made up of the paper packaging from a bag of flour. The paper has a few folds and creases and reads “SOKO ALL PURPOSE HOME BAKING FLOUR” in large print. Painted on top of the paper, are two older men. One sits on his bodaboda  (a public transport motorcycle) wearing a bright orange vest and the other stands behind him. They both look at something in the distance that isn’t pictured.

51.   

Title: Tough times

Artist: Dennis Ndegwa (Bull)

Medium: Acrylic on repurposed paper

Size: 45cm x 45cm

Price: 45,000kes / 354usd

This piece is a reflection of the hard and sad times labourers go through as they search for their daily bread. The subject appears to be in a sad mood as he sits on his bodaboda (his tool of trade) and contemplates on the tough economic times. His stillness contrasts sharply with the expected dynamism of his work, emphasizing a pause not by choice, but by circumstance. The piece becomes more than a portrait of one individual. It stands as a broader commentary on the lived realities of many laborers navigating economic hardship. Through this solitary figure, the artwork invites the viewer to confront the human cost of survival—the quiet sacrifices, the mental toll, and the resilience required to keep going despite it all.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: The background of the painting is made up of ‘unga’ paper (normally used to package corn flour, but has now been repurposed to act as a canvas for the painting). The paper has many folds and creases and reads “GALA UNGA SAFI WA UGALI” in large print. On top of the paper, the figure of a man is painted—the main subject of the painting. He sits on his bodaboda (a public transport motorcycle) with his elbow resting on his thigh and his chin resting on the palm of his hand. He looks down, still and contemplative.

52.    

Title: Mistari

Artist: Mugabo Baritegera

Medium: Acrylic and oil pastel on find canvas

Size: 60cm x 38cm

Price: 128,000kes / 1,000usd

Mistari which means lines in Swahili is a metaphor symbolizing the energy which circulates in the body or through urban or imaginary physics space leaving traces sometimes perceptible to the human eye

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: This painting is made up of many abstract lines and shapes—an L-shaped blue line, a curvy oval with wavy lines inside, a bunch of circles clumped next to each other, a stack of horizontal lines, and more. There are also two distinct yellow boxes with vertical lines inside.

53.  

Title: Sura 02

Artist: Mugabo Baritegera

Medium: Acrylic and oil pastel on find canvas

Size: 55cm x 76cm

Price: 191,000kes / 1,500usd

Sura which is a Swahili word designating the face is a metaphor to show the complexity linked to identity when d the migrant is simply reduced to statistical figures which dehumanizes them by denying them the right to move freely

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: This painting has a bright red background and depicts the bust of a person–from their head down to the chest. The red-painted background appears streaky in some spots, where another layer of white paint is revealed to be “peeking through” from underneath the red. There are no distinct features within the body of the figure, besides one large wide-open eye, which looks forward. There are two giant eye-shaped rings around this eye, emphasizing the eye as the focal point of the painting. The rest of the figure is filled in with a variety of abstract colors and shapes.

54.  

Title: Sura03

Artist: Mugabo Baritegera

Medium: Acrylic and oil pastel on find canvas

Size: 51cm x 72cm

Price: 191,000kes / 1,500usd

Sura which is a Swahili word designating the face is a metaphor to show the complexity linked to identity when d the migrant is simply reduced to statistical figures which dehumanizes them by denying them the right to move freely

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: This painting has a light blue background and depicts the bust of a person–from their head down to the chest. The blue-painted background appears streaky in some spots, where another layer of black and gray paint is revealed to be “peeking through” from underneath the blue. There are no distinct features within the body of the figure, besides the right ear and one large wide-open eye, which looks forward. There are two giant eye-shaped rings around this eye, emphasizing the eye as the focal point of the painting. The rest of the figure is filled in with a variety of abstract colors and shapes.

55.  

Title: Sura

Artist: Mugabo Baritegera

Medium: Acrylic and oil pastel on find canvas

Size: 49cm x 77cm

Price: 191,000kes / 1,500usd

Sura which is a Swahili word designating the face is a metaphor to show the complexity linked to identity when d the migrant is simply reduced to statistical figures which dehumanizes them by denying them the right to move freely

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: This painting has a bright red background and depicts the bust of a person–from their head down to just below the shoulders. There are no distinct features within the body of the figure, besides one wide open eye, which looks forward. There are two thick eye-shaped rings around this eye, emphasizing the eye as the focal point of the painting. The rest of the figure is filled in with a variety of abstract colors and shapes.

56.   

Title: EXODUS

Artist: Mugabo Baritegera

Medium: Acrylic and oil pastel on find canvas

Size: 45cm x 51cm

Price: 102,000kes / 800usd

Exodus explores the question of migration in the form of energy which circulates in space, sometimes transforming it with a cultural memory or adding other percepts, often indigenous but essential to the balance of nature

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: This painting has a bright orange background. The subject is an abstract figure that appears almost human, but not quite. The legs and feet are human-like, walking to the right, but the rest of the body is boxy and appears like multiple objects conglomerated into one being. There is no distinct head. Atop the boxy upper body, there are three chimneys (like the kind that appear on trains) venting smoke up and out of frame along the top left corner of the canvas. The entire body is filled with a variety of abstract shapes and colors. Multiple long rectangular shapes stick out from the left side of the figure.

57.  

Title: Borrowed Identity 

Artist: Reath Bol  

Medium: Acrylic On canvas

Size: 20cm x 30cm

Price: 51,000kes / 400usd

This piece reflects on the loss of identity, where a young girl is shaped entirely by the decisions of elders, leaving her with little sense of self. 

It shows how control, often justified as tradition, can take away her voice, her choices and her ability to define who she is.

58.  

Title: Stolen Classroom

Artist: Reath Bol  

Medium: Acrylic On canvas

Size: 25cm x 30cm

Price: 51,000kes / 400usd

This piece speaks about child marriage; how young girls are pushed into marriage instead of being given the chance to go to school and grow into their own lives.

It reflects on a future taken too early, where education is replaced with responsibilities, and childhood is quietly lost.

59.  

Title: In The Name of Cows

Artist: Reath Bol  

Medium: Acrylic On canvas

Size: 30cm x 40cm

Price: 70,000kes / 550usd

Cows is a reflection on the silent struggles of young women who are pushed into marriage without their consent in South Sudan.  It speaks about those who are left In the dark, carrying pain that's often unseen and unspoken.

The work draws from the reality where fathers and relatives make decisions on behalf of women, forcing them into lives they did not choose. Through this piece, I try to give space to their stories, stories of endurance, loss, and the quiet strangers they carry.

60 through 63.

Title: I CAN’T SEE print 2nd edition

Artist: Santana Sino

Medium: Silk screen print & acrylic on paper

Size: 21cm x 29.7cm

Price: 5,000kes / 40usd each

This series explores identity and stereotypical views, examining how the presence of hair reshapes the way society interprets and responds to those who wear them. In the African set up dreadlock has been common amongst different  people as a message of free spirit and freedom. Which has brought a lot of harm amongst the young people in the country (Kenya) associating them with vices and negativity amongst people in the community such as irresponsibility, crime and drugs.

64.

Title: Ghetto paradise

Artist: Jimmy Furaha

Medium : Photography

Size: 41cm x 30cm

Price: 20,000kes. / 160usd

Commonly reduced to a story of poverty, Kibera holds far more depth than its stereotypes allow. It is a densely lived-in community where resilience is part of everyday life, and where people continue to build dignity, care, and connection in the midst of challenging conditions. Often misunderstood from the outside, it remains a place of humanity, strength, and shared existence.

65.    

Title: Ask for Transport

Artist: Jimmy Furaha

Medium: Photography

Size: 41cm x 30cm

Price: 20,000kes. / 160usd

In Kibra, a boda boda rider stands with his bike, part of the most common way people move through the city. More than transport, it is work, connection, and survival, carrying both passengers and the rhythm of daily life.

66.
Title: Eyes in Motion

Artist: Jimmy Furaha

Medium: Photography

Size: 41cm x 30cm

Price: 20,000kes. / 160usd

Amidst all the chaos, a matatu becomes a shared space of journeys and glances. Eyes meet mine as I shoot from outside, while inside parents hold their children close, occupying the same seats, the same ride, the same moment. It is a quiet reminder of how life here is constantly shared, even in motion.

67.   
Title: Face to Face

Artist: Jimmy Furaha

Medium: Photography

Size: 41cm x 30cm

Price 20,000kes. / 160usd

Inside a Kibra home, two friends share tea, laughter, and time, a quiet reminder that even in little spaces, there is always enough to share.

68.  

Title: Space as a Negotiated Reality

Artist: Jimmy Furaha

Medium: Photography

Size: 41cm x 30cm

Price: 20,000kes. / 160usd

Inside a Kibra corridor, two girls turn a narrow passage into their playground, moving between hanging laundry and tight walls. With few open spaces left for children to play, imagination becomes their freedom, finding joy where space has been taken.

69.  
Title: Evening walk

Artist: Jimmy Furaha

Medium: Photography

Size: 41cm x 30cm

Price: 20,000kes. / 160usd

Amid the busyness, there is a strong sense of community and care, where people continue to hold each other through the rhythm of everyday life

70.   

Title: Makaa imepanda bei

Artist: Dan Kabiaru (Saint)

Medium: Acrylic on cardboard

Size: 30cm x 30cm

Price: 27,000 ksh / 210usd

Its an artwork that shows a man pushing a boda boda bicycle filled with bags of charcoal. Besides the upgrade on more economical sources of fuel, charcoal still remains as one of the most used fuel sources. It is more economical in terms of price and burns longer, besides its high carbon emission. It is still a preferred source of fuel.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: A piece of cardboard acts as the canvas for this painting. Black and white paint covers the right side, leaving an open space of brown cardboard to the left, where a man pushes a boda boda bicycle filled with bags of charcoal. On top of the black and white paint is a thick, red strip.

71.  

Title: Lamp shades

Artist: Dan Kabiaru (Saint)

Medium: Acrylic on cardboard

Size: 30cm x 30cm

Price: 27,000 ksh / 210usd

A painting showcasing a man hawking to sell handmade lamp shades in the streets of Nairobi.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: A piece of cardboard acts as the canvas for this painting. Black and white paint covers most of the brown cardboard, except for an open space to the left, where a man is hawking to sell handmade lamp shades in the streets of Nairobi. On top of the black and white paint is a thick, red strip.

72.  

Title: Kifagio na vikapu

Artist: Dan Kabiaru (Saint)

Medium: Acrylic on cardboard

Size: 30cm x 30cm

Price: 31,000 ksh / 240usd

A vendor selling handmade sweeping brooms and handmade bags made from recycled materials from makuti and tire tubes for the sweeping broom and colored polypropylene straps for the baskets

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: A piece of cardboard acts as the canvas for this painting. Black and white paint covers most of the brown cardboard, except for an open space to the right, where a vendor stands holding handmade brooms and bags to sell. On top of the black and white paint is a thick, green strip.

73.  

Title: Mitumba

Artist: Dan Kabiaru (Saint)

Medium: Acrylic on cardboard

Size: 30cm x 30cm

Price: 29,000 ksh / 230usd

Mitumba is a word that means secondhand clothing. In Kenya, secondhand clothes have created a large systematic job opportunities for a lot of Kenyans, who in this painting represents a vendor selling clothes t-shirts and trousers, at a more cheaper price compared to new clothes. Even though it has a large side effect on environment from too much waste being thrown away, it has employed a lot of young and old people to make a living off of it. With the largest market being known as GIKOMBA in Nairobi.  

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: A piece of cardboard acts as the canvas for this painting. Black and white paint covers most of the brown cardboard, except for an open space to the right, where a man stands selling a bunch of secondhand t-shirts and trousers. On top of the black and white paint is a thick, red strip.

74.  

Title: Games people play

Artist: Dan Kabiaru (Saint)

Medium: Acrylic on cardboard

Size: 30cm x 30cm

Price: 28,000 ksh / 220usd

This is an artwork showing a man selling toys some are handmade from plastic cans and caps others are factory made.  

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: A piece of cardboard acts as the canvas for this painting. Black and white paint covers most of the brown cardboard, except for an open space to the left, where a man walks holding a variety of toys to sell. On top of the black and white paint is a thick, blue strip.

75.  

Title: Uliniokoa

Artist: Dan Kabiaru (Saint)

Medium: Acrylic on cardboard

Size: 30cm x 30cm

Price: 26,000 ksh / 200usd

I painted this a day after a hawker sold me some sweets and peanuts at a time I was in need of snacks in a matatu, if it wasn’t for him the ride wouldn’t have been as peaceful.

The hawkers are like moving shops, you can get whatever snack you can find in a shop.

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: A piece of cardboard acts as the canvas for this painting. Black and white paint covers most of the brown cardboard, except for an open space to the right, where a hawker stands, holding a bowl of snacks on his shoulder. On top of the black and white paint is a thick, green strip.

76.   

Title: Mak mama chai

Artist: Dan Kabiaru (Saint)

Medium: Acrylic on cardboard

Size: 30cm x 30cm

Price: 31,000 ksh / 240usd

Inspired by the tea farms from my villages, I have referenced the women picking tea which has more insights on how tea has affected the livelihoods of the people who pick tea.

As the debate still goes on between the pros and cons of working in tea plantations

ACCESSABILITY DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: A piece of cardboard acts as the canvas for this painting. Black and white paint covers most of the brown cardboard, except for an open space to the right, where a woman is picking tea leaves. On top of the black and white paint is a thick, red strip.

77.   

Title: The Face of hope 

Artist: Yusuf Mirumbe

Medium: Oil on watercolor paper

Size: 21.5cm x 29.5cm

Price: 19,000kes / 150usd

What the artist captures is a very specific kind of stillness — not peace, but the performance of peace. She sits calmly, yet there is something withheld in her posture, a contained heaviness. This is a woman holding a storm inside while keeping the surface unbroken, so that her home and her children remain undisturbed.

The artist paints her from the memory of a child who could sense something was wrong but could not name it. That childhood intuition — that something lived behind the calm — is what the piece preserves. When spoken to, she would seem to startle back into the present, as though pulled from somewhere far away. The child saw this, felt it, but understood it only partially. The painting is the adult artist finally giving form to what the child could only feel.

The sparse, pale background strips everything else away, leaving only her — the way a child's memory fixes on a single image of a parent, isolating it from all other detail. She is not painted as a figure in distress, but as a woman of enormous inner strength: one who chose, deliberately, to carry the turbulence alone rather than let it wash over those she loved.

78.  

Title: Our Mothers  4/15

Artist: Santana Sino

Medium: Silk screen print with aero spray on paper

Size: 29.7cm x 21cm

Price: 5,000kes / 40usd each

Our Mothers tells of the silent prayers and words of hope a mother speaks to

their child as they welcome them to this harsh environment.

79.    
Title: ‘Resilience in Rust’

Artist: Savior Juna Omondi

Medium: Mixed Media: Repurposed metal, marbles, soil, paint. wood

Size: 14cm x 19cm

Price: NFS (On loan from the House of Friends Kenya Private Art Collection)

A very early work of Savior’s, nearly one of his first. While being mentored by artists at Maasai Mbili Artists Collective in Kibera.  Savior was lucky to have such exposure to some of Kibera’s leading artist of the time.

It is a bit easier to see an understand now from the body of works Saviors typically creates. Resilience a portrait is a powerful study of character forged through time. Layering weathered scrap metal over a rugged wooden base, the piece uses industrial textures to build a face that feels both ancient and modern. The contrast between the rusted iron plates and the delicate cowrie shells creates a striking balance, suggesting that grace and resilience are often found in the most unlikely, reclaimed places.

It is a raw, soulful representation of a spirit that has found its strength through transformation. Grounded with earthly color of the metal, rust, soil and even the deep colored marble eyes that absorb and reflect just enough light to show the twinkle and love that can be found in Savior’s heart and home environment.

80.  

Title: The ‘FACE’

Artist: Kiliku Hassan

Medium: Mixed Media: acrylics and scrap gypsum board with a frame made of repurposed bicycle rubber inner tubes.

Size: 28cm x 28cm

Price: NFS (On loan from the House of Friends Kenya Private Art Collection)

This piece stands out as a classic Kibera work of art from a hopeful young artist. By using whatever materials can be found—donated paints, brushes, and a studio space offered by Art360—Kiliku and other local youth find a haven to enjoy the creative process rather than focusing on the struggles of everyday life. Expressing yourself is powerful; that is where ‘FACE’ comes from. The work serves as a narrative of his surroundings and teaches others how to use their own voices.

This work was noticed by Jamey Ponte, known to many as ‘Babu,’ the curator of this exhibition and founder of the Kibera Arts District. The piece served as the inspiration for a mural painted by Nard Maningi and Kiliku at the entrance of the Kibera Arts District. Many joke that the mural depicts ‘Babu’ when he is angry and yelling, giving the mural the nickname ‘The Angry FACE.’