"The African Arts Trust will act as a catalyst for the emergence and growth of locally managed and sustainable contemporary visual art organisations in Africa"
At the end of June 2023, the TAAT space was transformed into a viewing and meeting place by the Nairobi based curators Roseline Olang' Odhiambo and Don Handa. The presentation and the accompanying programming placed an emphasis on presentation of ideas, process and artistic experimentation. The curators held artist portfolio workshops, a cyanotype workshop and a zine workshop. Alongside this the curators exhibited three young and up and coming artists; Kavocky Anita, an artist who primarily draws, paints and experiments with different materials and mediums. Laying emotions that constitute the self and the relation to the world. Ian Gichohi, a photographer living and working in Nairobi, Kenya. The central theme around Gichohi's compositions highlight the ways in which objects around us offer insight into the ways we live. Adam Yawe uses his technical knowledge and passion for Nairobi’s urban culture to craft and tell stories about unique and meaningful artefacts. Yawe’s ongoing projects is Vitu vya sanaa and exploration of Kenya’s urban material culture as an aesthetic basis for the creation of objects. Don Handa is currently the curator at the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute, where he leads the delivery of exhibitions and programs. Working in a region whose artistic histories are underrepresented in the global conversation about contemporary art, Handa's focus is on initiatives that centre and contextualise the practices of East African artists. He is interested in building archives of artists’ work using an array of tools and platforms including exhibition-making, public programing, writing, and podcasting. Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo is an independent curator, artist and bookmaker based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her current artistic and curatorial interests explore zines, artist’s books and other unconventional book structures as formats to play across various disciplines,(primarily visual arts, literature, and poetry) engaging with decolonial, queer, feminist, and black radical traditions. More recently she is also experimenting with sound installations and performance as a way to explore the art of listening.
