African heritage inspires art porfolio

Senior Malaika Kathurima is a part of the AP Drawing Portfolio art class. Before leaving for the summer, upcoming seniors are assigned a portfolio to complete during the duration of their senior year.

 “AP art is specifically a very fast class,” Kathurima said. “We are given a whole year to work on our portfolio and our first semester is our sustained investigation. You choose an open ended question and within that open ended question you have to do a lot of research and a lot of planning to conduct an investigation through art.”

With such a broad range of freedom, Kathurima was torn on where to begin her project. During her family’s six week trip to Kenya, Africa, this past July, brilliance struck.

“About two weeks into my trip in Kenya, I was dropping my mom off at the airport. We were driving in Nairobi, the capital, and I was just mesmerized by the beauty,” Kathurima said. “My mom had the idea to make my art project about how beautiful Kenya is. After that I started brainstorming on how to make my project a love letter to Kenya. Luckily I was there for 6 weeks so I was going to try to plan my year’s project while I was [there].”

Kathurima was born in Omaha, but her ancestors and family are a part of the Meru tribe and Imenti sub-tribe based in Kenya. Kathurima hopes to portray the meaning of this sacred place through her sustained investigation of What Makes Kenya Beautiful?

“My first piece is six paintings that I did while I was in Kenya that were about Kenyan tea,” Kathurima said. “Tea is a staple in every household in Kenya and an excuse to bring people together. Everywhere you go in Kenya, you’ll get a cup of tea from somebody. No matter how poor you are, you will have the ingredients and the silverware to make tea and give it to your guests.”

Through this first piece, Kathurima hopes to not only convey an important product and its place in Kenya’s culture, but one that has personal meaning as well. 

“I’ve been around tea my whole life,” Kathurima said. “My grandparents make a pot every morning and drink it and I used to drink it everyday when I was little. There’s a whole process to making tea so I wanted to show that in the piece.”

Kathurima’s first piece consists of six miniature paintings which come together to form one giant picture. One of these paintings depicts a tea plantation to show where the sacred Kenyan coffee and tea is harvested. 

“I went to a tea plantation and took a picture of [the plantation] and then painted it. And then I took a picture of the ingredients and painted that. I then took a picture of my grandma cooking tea and painted that. And then my grandparents and their friends shared tea to show the community that tea brings together.”

Within these pieces, Kathurima has tried to infuse a piece of Kenya into her works of art, physically and spiritually. 

“Within those pieces and so far what I’ve done with every single one of my pieces is I’ve incorporated the soil that was on the property on which my grandparents just finished building their home,” she said. 

Painting with soil may seem like a strange concept to most, but to Kathurima, it was a crucial way to bring a part of Kenya’s nature into her pieces. 

“Depending on where you go in Kenya, the soil is found in different varieties of color,” Kathurima said. “Specifically where my family lives in Imenti, the soil is orange reddish tone. I took dirt and I used a strainer to get the larger pieces out of it and I put glue and water in it and it made paint and was shocked when it really worked. I brought back the paint from the little tubs. I’ve incorporated each and every one of my pieces so far so I can have a piece of Kenya in each one of my art pieces.”

During the four week span of painting, Kathurima was able to uncover a deeper meaning behind this historic material, even without internet access.

“I later talked to my grandpa about the soil,” Kathurima said. “He mentioned that before the British came to Kenya, the paint that is used on their faces and in their art work is that same soil. There, soil is more than just dirt, it’s not just mud. It’s where you take your first breath, it’s where you build your house, where you live your life and it’s where you die. The soil there is considered Mother.”

Kathurima has continued to incorporate this new paint into her pieces as she portrays Kenya’s beauty.

“I used the mud in my biggest piece so far,” Kathurima said. “It shows a handshake that is done specifically in the Meru tribe. It’s used to greet someone and to make agreements.”

A crucial part of the Kenyan culture is family, and Kathurima wants to include this aspect personally throughout her pieces. 

“The next piece I’m working on is how the people of Kenya make Kenya beautiful,” Kathurima said. “I’m doing a collage of the facial features of photos of people that I took while in Kenya. In the center is going to be my great grandma’s eyes because she just passed away this January.”

Throughout her journey, Kathurima has gained more from her art than she ever could have imagined. 

“I feel significantly closer with my Kenyan culture than I did before,” Kathurima said. “Each part of my project has been to really try and find what aspects of Kenya I can find that show how beautiful it is.”

Kenyan beauty is something that Kathurima believes a wider community will enjoy. 

“One thing that I’ve done with this project that I’m really proud of is to make it so that not only can Kenyans relate to it,” Kathurima said. “I’ve had it so those of the African diaspora can relate to and fully appreciate it. It kind of came from out of the blue and it has really blossomed into a project that I am proud of. It makes me so excited that I am able to show modern Kenya and show the beauty of my family’s home country.”