Wadu

The first retrospective monograph on one of Kenya’s foremost living artists

I Hope So: Sane Wadu follows the expansion and development of Wadu’s conceptual preoccupations, beginning with an early interest in bucolic scenes of pastoral life which has evolved into incisive social commentary, a complex exploration of the intersection of faith and politics, and an ongoing critique of societal contradictions. An illuminating essay by Mukami Kuria and an interview with Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo offer readers multiple entry points into Wadu’s penetrating vision.

This catalogue is published on the occasion of Sane Wadu’s first retrospective exhibition at the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute in 2022.

About NCAI
Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI) is a nonprofit visual-arts space dedicated to the growth and preservation of contemporary art in East Africa. Established in 2020, NCAI builds on a rich legacy of art projects and institutions in the region, and seeks to tell the stories of the artists and projects that have come to shape the region’s contemporary art scene. Through exhibitions, the development of an East African art archive, an extensive public program of talks, and a multidisciplinary educational program, NCAI serves as an inspiring cultural space and a resource for the thriving East African arts community.

Sane Wadu (b. 1954) started his career in painting in 1983, and is one of the founding members of Ngecha Artist Association. Wadu currently runs, with his wife Eunice Wadu, the Sane Wadu Trust for children’s education, where he conducts art workshops, as well as art therapy sessions in prisons and in Naivasha. He has exhibited locally with shows at the Gallery Watatu, Nairobi (1989, 1990, 1995); British Council, (1995); Gallery of East African Contemporary Art (1996, 1999); Red Hill Art Gallery; Alliance Franc, aise, Nairobi; and the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art. His work has been shown internationally at the Brookes Adobe Arts Center, Santa Barbara (1986); Philippe Briet Gallery, New York (1989); Grafolies, Biennale d’Abidjan (1993); Stadtmuseum Ludwigshafen, Ludwigshafen am Rhein (1993); Parco Art Gallery, Tokyo and Nagoya (1993); Whitechapel Gallery, London (1995); Africus, Johannesburg Biennial (1995); Kunst Transit, Berlin (1999); and The Living Room Gallery, Atlanta (2000). His work sits in collections such as those of Jacques Soulilou and the late Robert Loder of Triangle Network, the collection of Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth, and the Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main.

Mukami Kuria is an almost-barrister, sometimes-art writer, once-in-a-while curator and occasional freelance editor living and working between Nairobi and London. She was the curator of I Hope So: Sane Wadu at NCAI in 2022. Under NCAI, she is a co-founder and co-convenor of The Gathering with Michael Armitage and also convened the NCAI Women in Sculpture Panel with Wangechi Mutu, Magdalene Odundo DBE and Chelenge Van Rampelberg on the occasion of the Ledge Sculpture intervention at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Her editorial projects include Just A Book, part of the Contact Zones NRB series, and she has written commissioned texts for Michael Armitage: The Chapel at South London Gallery, and for the Goethe Institute Project, Ten Cities.

Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo is a writer, artist and independent curator based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her current artistic and curatorial interests explore zines, artist’s books and other unconventional book structures as formats to play across various disciplines--visual arts, literature, and poetry--engaging with decolonial, queer, feminist, and black radical traditions. Rosie has worked in research, communications, writing, and project management roles with arts and culture organizations in East Africa and the United States. She is the co-founder of MagicDoor, an experimental imprint in Nairobi, and has previously served as the Head of Programs at the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI). In 2022, she participated in the 8th Edition of the A`si`ko` School and is a scholar-in-residence at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Newfields, Indiana.