‘Sex and the City’ exhibition attracts young art lovers

Alliance Française is hosting a “Sex and the City exhibition” in a joint project between Michael Soi, Thom Oganga and Antony Wanjohi. This is the sixth edition.

First impression, the “Sex and the City” exhibit perfectly captures the Nairobi nocturnal scene, which some have loosely termed as one big ‘696 kilometres squared bedroom’ while boldly pushing boundaries and challenging stereotypes.

The artistes who spoke to BDLife however, say their work is not to change society but to show what is currently happening.

This joint exhibition has attracted the younger generation, art lovers in their 20s, who are now frequenting galleries on solo dates, romantic dates, and for some, to learn and venture into art.

These artistes bring to life the stories of the after-dark hours of city life, some they have seen, others they have been told.

“I don’t do my work to promote, rebuke or educate anyone. I’m documenting the goings on of the space I live in, while at the same time exposing our hypocritical culture,” says Thom.

Michael ‘s bold visual stories paint a picture of girls with older men, the billboards with masseuses’ numbers that are erected along various major roads in the city in acrylics, while Thom and Wanjohi’s take is more subtle. Thom’s drawings for this exhibition are of women.

“The content of this show is not fictional. They are things we interact with daily,” says Thom.

Nairobi’s emerging socialites are charcoaled in drawings going for Sh52,000 each. Thom says: “These are figures of speech, and how powerful these individuals are.

Growing up, we’d go to parties because the deejay was the rockstar, now we go because we’re told a socialite is there, and it’s the power dynamic of the context of this exhibition to show who is the most powerful in the scene, the power of sex appeal,” he says.

Thom’s inspiration for the exhibition? “I have always been interested in the daily happenings of the space I live in and even more fascinated by the nocturnal activities.

“All the things that colour the night; bar brawls, disco scenes, gambling, prostitution, etc., excite the artiste in me and feature prominently in my artistic practice.”

“My work is very figurative and representative of a typical night out in the city and is most often satirical of our hypocritical culture of being “responsible citizens” during the day and the total opposite when the sun goes down,” he adds.

The exhibition features the sexual dynamic between a young woman and an older man, or sugar babies and sugar daddies dubbed ‘Baba Ben’, breakfast in bed, the Subaru boys- one of Wanjohi’s best pieces from the exhibit which shows a man with multiple women at the World Rally Championship and the massage parlours where sex has become a trade.

“I was brought in to bring a fresh perspective, I wanted to show the other side outside the confided spaces, that is where sex happens outside the norm spaces, like the rugby tournaments and safari rallies,” says Wanjohi.

“My approach was to show that this happens outside these confined typical places like the bedroom or hotels, it’s to the extreme,” he adds.

“This piece called Subaru boys that’s the one that encaptures the scene and the Sex and the City exhibition,” said Mr Wanjohi on his piece going for Sh80,000.

Thom says the younger generation, who are more exposed through comprehensive education, international travel and urban upbringing, are more open to this type of conversation, contrary to the older generation.

It is a few minutes to one on a Tuesday afternoon, there are not many people visiting galleries. Upstairs, classes are ongoing, and students are about to break for lunch.

A few minutes later, I see Christiane Hirwa, a 23-year-old from the Democratic Republic of Congo taking in the art. She is a psychology student at Daystar University, dropping by Alliance Française to have her thesis translated.

She cautions me her English is not perfect for she is a French speaker as I engage her about the exhibition.

“I was surprised because when I entered the door, the first thing I saw was that one (she points at the ‘nichomoe’ piece) and I was oh that’s what they’re doing now,” said Hirwa.

“The artistes who did the art are expressing themselves without being ashamed of the sexual aspects of it, because in Africa it’s still a taboo and that’s why people are shy to show this type of art,” adds Hirwa but says some of the art maybe be shocking for old people in their 50s or 60s.

“They’d walk in here and say this is a lost generation…they are just painting what is happening every day, but people are ashamed to talk about it.

“I would buy one, not the shocking ones because I could get tired of waking up to see that every day, imagine living with your parents who would see that, scary,” she says.

A few other young people make their way to the gallery. One Annestine Adhiambo, a geospatial student at the University of Nairobi is passionate about this exhibition.

“First, the artiste, referring to Michael Soi’s works, is very brave, the theme itself is not something you find people discussing openly, which drew me in,” she says.

“I felt the artiste is so unhinged, “basically, going with the flow,” because some people might consider it immoral. I love and would buy the three pieces with women, [referring to the Monroe, Amber and Vera drawings by Thom].

“I’d also keep one with a man peddling condoms because I’ve never seen a hawker selling those,” she says.

The man peddling aphrodisiacs and contraceptives is a unique piece.

“This specific body of work is outside of what I do, the pieces I did were specifically for this show, primarily my subject matter is around street vendors or hawkers,” says Wanjohi.

“There is one called ‘uji power’ of a man selling these natural aphrodisiacs; ‘njugus’ (peanuts), or ‘mukombero’ (white’s ginger), or okra water, I have two guys who are hawkers who sell these items,” he says.