Contemporary visual artist James Kamande’s work examines Nairobi’s urban life and architecture through mixed media paintings and metal sculptures that reflect the changing cityscape.
His works are on display at the Art of Connection group exhibition at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Westlands. Curated by Myrna Art Direction and Sena Art Gallery, the exhibition opened on February 12 and runs until May.
He considers his work a documentary, welding metal sculptures into buildings that showcase some of the places in the city. What first drew Kamande to metal as a material was its tactility. He explains that he wanted to engage in a three-dimensional and multisensory practice for the viewers to engage with the artworks with all their senses.
Working with metal, however, has its own challenges of space. “I am in a small space, and my materials are in a large mass. The process needs specialised tools to hang and rotate pieces, using a welding table to manoeuvre heavy forms,” he says.
Despite this, he wants to create life-size works that show the scale of the environments he studies.
Nairobi is a central subject to his artistry, where he explores societal habits and politics surrounding space and housing. “I have experienced the struggle of paying rent for a long time and not being able to own the space,” he says.
His subject matter is about how urban development prioritises the commercialisation of spaces over people. He says African families love big families, but housing structures limit how big families can be. Kamande also draws inspiration from the differences between affluent neighbourhoods and adjacent underserved areas.
In his work, the rusting of the buildings shows memory, transformation, and an archive of lived experiences. “Rust stands for what time reveals after buildings that once appear polished become structurally fragile,” he says.
He started painting city life and people in the streets in 2015.
This year, Kamande has exhibited at Between Signals at Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute, Cultural Tapestries at the Nairobi National Museum’s Creativity Gallery, and Restricted Voice: The Beauty and Reality of Womanhood at the Royal Danish Embassy in Nairobi.