PAWA 254 graffiti’s enlightens inhabitants in addition to nurturing local talents
The graffiti consist of a tourist’s plane; three residents and a mind of the tourist carry a bag with a camera in a cloud reflecting his It contains several elements which strive to visualize ideas about demerit and merits of slum tourism.
According Banslave the leader of the team involved, the graffiti consist of a tourist, three residents, an europlane, a train. “The four main elements constituting whole pictures will play a significant role in informing the community about benefits and detriments of slum tourism to residents of Kibra,” he said.
He explains that the present of corroded iron sheet muddy houses whose wall are torn apart symbolizes the rampant poverty present in the area. These include poor housing conditions which is a condition associated with slums dwellers across the world. A train which symbolizes that Kibera developed along the railway fathering the railway cutting across the slum.
“On the right hand of the graffiti there are three residents sitting on a bench outside their houses. One raises his hand to signal greetings to the tourist. He sees the tourist as a hope to them in that the tourist is carrying a bag full of money. Seeing the tourist taking those photos, he wants the tourist to teach him about photography but the tourist is thinking towards a different direction,” explained Banslave.
Furthermore, he elucidate that the tourist taking pictures in the middle of the graffiti has a cloud behind him which reflects things in his minds about persons he is taking pictures according to the information he has experienced of slum people though media and internet. In the cloud there is a TV picturing a person who begging for help. There is also an image of a guy holding a gun translating to most tourists thinks people from slums are bad people who are thief and gangster.
On the other hand, Kerosho another artist involved in the graffiti said the bad thinking of the tourist is due to individuals’ information developed by people living outside Kibera who stereotyping on slum dwellers in a negative way. “Tourists touring slums come with a negative attitude because to their previous information experience from other sources. With such minds they are easily exploited by fake individuals claiming to fundraising money for the society,” he commented.
There is also a euro plane representing the means of transport used by the tourist to come to Kenya. Most tourists in Kenya are from overseeing countries and use planes to accessing Kenya. The plane distinguishes the lifestyle of slum dwellers and tourists who are from two divergence world. Transport for slum dwellers is by train which is present in the picture and that one for tourist is by air depicted by a euro plane present. However their lives came to together in that they are standing on the same ground.
Uweza art gallery in partnership which was Sauti ya Mtaa host a grafitti training where art training in various techniques to be used I slum training focusing on advantages and disadvantages of it to the community and tourists involved in the tourism sector creating a fake hope for poor inhibitors of slums in Kenya.
It aims at providing positivity and negativities of slum in consideration with the image created global.
Recently during the launch of Beyond Zero Clinics in Kibera by Margaret Kenyatta, area MP lamented about foreign media houses portraying Kibera as a place with is inhabitable where crimes social illness is the routine of the day. The bad has been created by slum tourist possible by rich Kenyans or foreign with an agenda of getting donors who do it in good faith to help children in Kibera but the funds never steps in slum. It goes to the pockets of ‘private developer’ living somewhere in ‘Karen’.
It has been reported that some people either Kenyan or foreign are using slum tourism as a sources of sourcing funds from donors yet the funds end up in pockets of people doing the fundraising not the community.
According to Aveil Atieno a graffitist designer and artist at Uweza Foundation, she organized a train the day so that local artists from Kibera and professional ones from PAWA 254 could incorporate different views about the grafts and learn from artists who have already made it in their careers.
Fredric Owino, a trainee at the workshop who also contributed to the graffiti said he benefit a lot by interacting with profession artists and experiences the uses of paints when drawing. “I have never used paints, this is my first time and my real happy contributing to the painting,” he said.
Swift, an artist working PAWA 254 organization said the main purpose of graffiti is interpreted and communicate information to people through use of pictures. “We translate reports to into visuals which can easy understood people and also accessible because we draw them in open air where see then when passing,” he said.
However, the site for the event to take place got interfered from police officers who demand letters from different authorities permitting the work including NEEMA and the OCAS. Additional challenges of not enough space and inadequate advance preparation popped up.
