British artist sets out to translate diverse Kenyan stories into fine art

Clinton Kirkpatrick has been in and out of Kenya over the last three years, first as a volunteer serving at an upcountry children’s home, then as an HIV/AIDS youth counsellor and, finally, this last trip, he has been meeting and listening to stories told to him by Kenyans of all shapes, sizes, ages, geographical spaces and climes.

His listening has not been casual, despite his meetings with local people having mostly been serendipitous and random. He has heard stories shared freely by everyone from children, motorcycle riders, waitresses and museum curators to elders, artists, journalists and mitumba street vendors.

“My plan is to collect a minimum of 80 stories from Kenyans in a month’s time,” the Belfast-based artist told Saturday Nation at the beginning of last month. Then he disappeared and travelled upcountry, first to Naivasha where he had been based whenever he would come to Kenya in the past, and then to Kisumu to see friends, and finally, back through the Rift Valley to Nairobi just before departing at the end of last month.

“I collected 85 stories and I’m still counting,” said Clinton a day before his departure. With a clear-cut plan of translating all the stories — some of which were fables and folk tales, others pure fiction and others autobiographical — into beautiful works of art, Clinton has been inspired by Kenyans ever since first arriving in the country in 2014.

LABOUR OF LOVE

Coming from a country that had just recently resolved a 14-year civil war, this artist from Northern Ireland was relieved to come to Kenya, having applied online to serve as a volunteer working with youth, something he also does at home in Belfast. It was a British-based NGO that sent him to Naivasha to share his skills among Kenyan youth at the Naivasha Children’s Shelter.

But he’d also found time to visit a few Nairobi art centres, including Kuona Trust, where he met John Silver Kimani and signed up for his short print-making workshop.

Having specialised in painting during his undergraduate studies at several Belfast-based art schools, Clinton had never done much print-making in the past. But he quickly caught the print-maker’s ‘bug’ from Silver, whose surreal-style of painting and print-making is currently on display in Yokohama, Japan, where he recently won the national award for his art.

Following that first trip to Kenya and upon his return to Belfast, Clinton arranged an art exhibition to showcase both his and John Silver’s prints. That show turned out to be a great success despite Silver’s absence. (He couldn’t get a visa, even after applying several times for it).

But as the two had become good friends, they resolved to have another joint exhibition, this time in Kenya as well as in Northern Ireland. Clinton thought hard about what he wanted that upcoming exhibition to say.

“In the past, my art has largely been about myself, my feelings and thoughts about various things,” he said just before he left Kenya on September 30.

“But for this exhibition, I wanted to focus strictly on Kenyans and share their stories,” he added, noting that he’d never needed to cajole anyone to talk about themselves.

“I’d put my intentions online on Facebook and on my website so that especially my Kenyan friends would know why I was coming again,” he said.

He only collected stories from people who didn’t mind being photographed, videotaped and possibly even sketched as they spoke. In fact, he found most people eager to share their stories with him, seeing as he seemed so transparent himself.

“My plan is to only print two editions of each story and person that I interviewed. One will be for the person and one for the exhibition itself,” he added.

Having already booked space for Silver and himself for a show at the Nairobi National Museum, Clinton is okay with having to wait several months as he knows it will take him quite some time to create all 85 prints.

Nonetheless, the artist claims that every story elicited a vivid visual image in his head even before the interview was done.

“There was always something that the person said that struck me and I’d write it down,” said Clinton, who intends for his prints to be filled with figurative images that he hopes Kenyans will like. And if there is time, he may also try to create a video, including some or all of the individuals that he interviewed for his print-making.

Meanwhile, he will also be doing his community work with youth back home in Belfast as a means of earning a living.