WHO AM I, WHO WE ARE EXHIBITION

WHO I AM, WHO WE ARE is an art project which examines the idea of Kenyan nationhood and how this is embodied through a sense of identity and everyday interactions.

The project uses art and self-expression to create spaces and conversations for personal reflection on the themes of citizenry, civic responsibility, race, belonging, ethnicism and nationalism. This is against the backdrop of the events surrounding the 2007 Post-Election Violence, the new Constitution and the 2013 Presidential Elections.

The aim is to reflect people’s views and perhaps indicate a future for Kenya that will see people understand their role in what Kenya can become. The conversations are based on past and present individual experience.

Two artistic approaches were mainly used to gather material on what it means to be Kenyan today. One, in the form of life-size paintings called ‘body maps’ and the other in the form of recorded interviews through a confidential and public installation called, “In a Silent Room.”

Between 2013 and 2015, Who I Am, Who We Are approached different communities, first in Nairobi - Kenya Cultural Centre in Nairobi City Centre, Mukuru Lunga Lunga, Diamond Plaza in Parklands, Eastleigh, Sarit Centre in Westlands, Spring Valley- and later in Kisumu City, Isiolo Town, Lamu Town and Nyeri Town.

A total of 1,600 Kenyans were directly involved in making their body maps and in recording their voices in the Silent Room and another 8,000 experienced the project through its dissemination in various forms.

Who I Am, Who We Are has collected archival material comprising of 80 body maps with their accompanying stories, 1,500 audio recorded interviews in the Silent Room, 9 documentaries, 80 interviews and 2,000 photographs.

The exhibition will run from the 5th December 2015 to 30 January 2016 at the National Museum of Nairobi.