JR: From Kibera to Sotheby’s

This week’s post is guest blogged on A Kenyan Urban Narrative. It is curled from a very rough draft of an essay Kibera Kitsch & other Tales of Art for Social Exclusion by Njoroge Matathia

ABSTRACT

If Kibera were a cultural icon, then it is one that enters the global cultural economy certified Kitsch. And Kibera is a cultural icon, the template for an angst-filled other; a case study in the semiotics of African deprivation. Kibera as pallette; Kibera as theme; Kibera as setting, Kibera globalised through (faux) artistic expression. Brand Kibera: proven success in selling everything from soapstone carvings to box office movies and installation art. All fair trade of course. No Africans were violated in the production of these artworks!

Really?

From Kibera to Sotheby’s

On Saturday, I watched Christine Wambui’s Kibera Smiles Again. Screened at yet another one of the Urban Mirror shows hosted by the Goethe Institute, Nairobi, the documentary relives French artist JR’s work in Kibera. JR’s oeuvre is not vast, but it is, artistically, impressive. And at 25, and all of a ’street artist’ having found global critical acclaim and significant financial success is in itself no mean feat.

Friday, January 31st, 2009 marked the unveiling of the Nairobi leg of JR’s 28 Millimeters public art installation project in the city’s Kibera slum. As seen, on the documentary, JR and his assistants had stretched large black and white prints of his photographs over roofs and embankments. The photographs were of parts of the faces of a couple of local women. In one wow-inducing scene, as a train trudges past, above the shanty-line, the images pasted on the train align with those on the ground below to form three complete faces.

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2 Responses to “JR: From Kibera to Sotheby’s”

1. Jamie Coley says:

   February 27, 2010 at 10:44

   I much enjoyed reading this. As long as an article is written out then it is going to attract a following group. I say this should be rated a 10 on a scale from 1 to 10! I write some things myself. Is it alright to put a link on my site(
2. NT says:

   February 27, 2010 at 13:09

   Thanks for this