In praise of Terry Hirst, the grandfather of Kenyan satire  

Terry Hirst, who died last week at his home in Nairobi, was a legend known not only in Kenya but in the rest of the world for his incredible ability to look at Kenya’s political and social issues with great humour and deep understanding.

He was by far Kenya’s greatest cartoonist. He mentored a whole generation of cartoonists and artists who have changed the nature of the country’s press as far as freedom of expression is concerned.

I came to know Terry in 1973 when he and I started the monthly magazine Joe — the first humour magazine not just in Kenya but in Africa as well. In the late 1960s, I had been writing a humour column in the Daily Nation that I called ‘With a Light Touch’.

One of the characters in that column was someone I called Joe, and Terry illustrated some of the articles that I wrote for the Nation. It was a popular column and in 1973 Terry and I decided to do our own thing. We started Joe magazine.

I was the editor and did much of the writing but it was Terry’s artistic style and his great cartoons that gave real character to the magazine.

ENCOURAGED YOUNGER ARTISTS

Through his captivating cartoons, especially of the main character, Joe, Terry turned Joe into a major publication in the country.

His work encouraged younger artists to venture into the world of humour and satire.

Today, mainstream newspapers feature political and social comment in cartoon form which was unknown in the country before Joe magazine.

Most of Kenya’s cartoonists have been influenced if not inspired by Terry’s work. Without Terry’s legacy their cartoons would not have strengthened freedom of expression in the country and changed the way readers look at their political, social and economic environment the way they have done and are still doing.

And it wasn’t only through young artists that Terry’s influence on Kenyan creativity can be measured. Terry had an academic background.

He had been head of art education at Kenyatta University and a former lecturer in fine art at the University of Nairobi.

Through his university contacts, he was able to attract a number of famous writers to publish their short stories in Joe magazine. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Meja Mwangi and Sam Kahiga were but a few of the writers who were attracted to the magazine because of Terry, and who, through the magazine, were able to reach a wider audience on a regular basis.

I left Joe in early 1975 to set up The Weekly Review but kept in touch with Terry by continuing to contribute my column, ‘My friend Joe,’ to the magazine.

GREAT HELP IN MY NEW VENTURE

The experience of working with Terry on Joe magazine was a great help in my new venture in that from him I had learnt self-discipline and dedication to deadlines. I had also learnt the art of being patient when dealing with talented people.

A few years earlier, Terry and I had been involved in helping the famous artist Elimo Njau and his novelist wife, Rebecca, set up Paa ya Paa art gallery in mid-town Nairobi.

Paa ya Paa became the hub of creative people in the city where talented artists and writers — people like Louis Mwaniki, Okot P’Bitek and Jonathan Kariara — would meet and discuss the state of Kenyan and African art and literature and the way forward.

Were it not for my association and friendship with Terry, I would not have come to know and appreciate that world of talented and creative people.

Terry’s legacy will live on. It will live on in the work that future Kenyan generations of artists and particularly cartoonists will produce. It will live on in the works that he has left behind. And it will live on in the hearts of everyone who knew him.

To Terry’s family, and particularly to his wife, Nereas, who worked tirelessly with him from the very beginning of Joe Magazine, I extend my sincerest condolences and trust that they will have the courage and fortitude to bear this great loss and to take relief in the knowledge that what Terry stood for and achieved in this country will live on.

The writer is a former editor-in-chief of the Nation