With more than five million inhabitants, Nairobi is one of the fastest growing cities on the African continent. In just over a century, the city has grown from a dreary train stop to a vibrant metropolis full of extremes: it is the only city in the world with its own national park. Two thirds of Nairobi's inhabitants live in slums – at the same time, a dynamic art scene has developed.

Our guide through the Kenyan capital is curator Nyambura Waruingi. She takes us to meet one of the country's best-known artists. Cyrus Kabiru grew up in one of Nairobi's largest slums and transforms garbage into miraculous objects, such as futuristic glasses.

Beatrice Wanjiku's powerful paintings explore the female body in a male-dominated world. A dark chapter in Kenyan history inspired the artist Syowia Kyambi to create a haunting performance based on the Kenyan mothers movement from 1992: Women protested against the torture of their sons who were imprisoned as political dissidents. Eventually securing their release.

On our trip across the East African metropolis, we board one of the brightly painted matatus - the name of Nairobi's famous buses. We visit the studio of the painter Peterson Kamwathi whose works can be read as a commentary on Kenyan society. And we discover how Moira Bush Kimani reinterprets African mask art with her delicate artworks.

 

 

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