Ragsto Canvas

A young painter from Kenya’s Kibera slum clings to her artistic dream, despite social pressure and financial difficulties

ART can be found in the most unlikely of places. Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, is home to the largest African slum: Kibera. More than 800,000 inhabitants are squeezed in the 2.5-square-km area with poor conditions and an average daily income of just one dollar. But in spite of all these problems, local artists find the strength to create and disseminate cutting-edge artworks.

Faith Atleno Owinio, 27, is one of them. Born in Kibera, this single mother runs a small art gallery in Kibera, where she teaches art to about 30 young people on a daily basis. Her unique technique is to use her fingers, instead of a brush, to mix the colors and paint: it is her own way of expressing emotions through her fingertips. In her paintings, she reinvents the places around her, whether it be Kibera, Nairobi or the African continent, and attempts to capture on canvas the ideal world of her dreams. As a politically-aware artist, Owinio also denounces injustice, discrimination and pressure that women face in the slum.

Owinio’s works have now spread far beyond the borders of her native Kibera. At an exhibition held last June at Hangzhou’s Grand Theater, in southeast China’s Zhejiang Province, her paintings were exposed among 71 art works from the largest slum in Africa, giving Chinese art lovers a taste of her unique take on life.