Sculpture symposium attracts global artists to Kisii

African Stones Talk, an international sculpture symposium, will be held on October 25 at Kisii University. The symposium is the culmination of a three-week event that started on October 5 which has been taking place at the Elkom Arts Centre just adjacent to the university. That is where 16 stone carvers have been carving non-stop using both soap stone and granite.

The symposium is the brainchild of Elkana Ong’esa, who is also widely acknowledged as the grandfather of Kisii stone sculpture in Kenya.

 Ong’esa is keen to pass on his knowledge and inspire others to carve in the stones that exist in abundance in Tabaka County where Ong’esa’s relations have been carving for generations.

FIRST SYMPOSIUM HELD IN 2011

The first African Stones Talk’ Symposium was held in 2011 and was sponsored by UNESCO. This year’s symposium has been assisted by Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TICAH).

An exhibition of the sculptures produced during the symposium was opened officially on October 25 at Elkom, which stands for Elkana Ong’esa Museum.

“The idea of Elkom was not mine. It came from several members of the community who told me frankly I would not be around forever. They wanted Elkom to represent my legacy ,” explains Ong’esa who is just happy to have a place where fellow sculptors from around Kenya and the rest of the world can come to work.

“This year we have had sculptors coming from the United States, Dominican Republic, Rwanda and Uganda as well as the majority coming from Kenya,” he adds.

One of the sculptors, Tali Sexton, came all the way from Texas to attend the symposium. No stranger to East Africa, she had spent her early years living with her family in Uganda. “Makerere University is where I first met Elkana. We were both art students at the Margaret Trowel School of Fine Art,” she says.

“I had dreamed for many years of returning to Africa and now, with my children fully grown, I decided to return and reconnect with my old friend,” she adds.

But the African Stones Talk exhibition is only one feature of this year’s symposium. Ong’esa explains that in addition to sculpture, TICAH brought a bus-full of elders from around Kisii and other parts of Kenya. They will be performing and sharing their cultural insights during the finale which will take place at the end of the day on the October 25.

One aspect of African Stones Talk that participants in the symposium have especially enjoyed is the open-air aspect of their working site.

“We have had visitors from the community come to see us and our work every day since we first arrived, and it’s a pleasure to carve the stones at the same time as we get to know the community,” says Ms Sexton.