Over the Wall

2005

KENYA

Kenya Mural Project

Kenya Mural Project 2014 was our third tour of going to Magoso School, the orphanage and school in Kibera Slum in Kenya, the largest one in East Africa. This time we painted a mural on the wall that was built to protect the school after massive fire in 2014 December, and organized interactive activities with the children.
During the three-week stay in Kenya from Jan. 23ed, 2010, he completed a mural in Magoso School, Painting Class for 200 children and Flag exchange workshop with Okumiyamae Elementary School in Arakawa, Tokyo.
We also visited a village of the Maasai tribes and organized “What were you doing yesterday” workshop to the children.

MAGOSO School -Mashimoni Good Samaritan School for the Orphans-

MAGOSO School is a private school founded by a Kenyan woman named Lilyan Wagara in 1999, accepting the poor children in Kibera Slum. She was from the slum herself but was strongly determined to offer education to the local children on street and started teaching them in her own room.
As the time goes by, the number of the children grew every year as her place had become a shelter for the kids who has lost their parents or has been neglected, and nowadays it is a school where about 450 students attend.
Magoso School has had graduates every year from 2008 and became an inclusive community to live together for not only its students but also for adults and people in difficulty.

Flag exchange workshop

We arranged in Magoso School and Ogumiyamae Elementary School in Arakawa, Tokyo as their cultural exchange program. The students came up with 20 themes about the counterpart’s environment. Then, those in Arakawa drew the pictures of Kenya while those in Kenya did of Arakawa on white flags, and the flags were exchanged as a symbol of their friendship.

“What were you doing yesterday” workshop

The participants painted on what they were doing yesterday at nine o’clock in the morning, three in the afternoon, and six in the evening. We connected Magoso School, a village of the Maasai people, and Okumiyamae Elementary School through Skype and let them interact with each other not by words but their paintings.

Painting Class

It is not uncommon for the kids in Kibera Slum that they have barely picked up a brush. We provided color paints for them and let them draw anything they like to draw. They created more than 100 pieces of art in the classes. We held the exhibition in the school and awarded the excellent works with certificates and prizes.

Mural Draft and Mural Puzzle

The mural draft was created in corroboration with the children in Saga, Japan. The draft was then turned into a plywood puzzle of 1,000 pieces, which were sold as our fundraising effort.

Reflection on the Kenya mural project 2014

A bright glaring sunshine, fragrant smell of charcoals and the sound of kids reading their textbook aloud. Good upbeat music floating from outside of the wall. The young people chatting in Swahili were coming out of the cloud of dust to join us painting one after another.
The mural painting in Magoso School started on Jan 23rd , and was completed in 2 weeks under the strong sun with the huge painting of 20 meter long. Magoso School in Kibera slum, where more than 1 million people live, was severely damaged by the big fire in Dec 2014. We held this project with our prayer on no such disaster from happening ever again.
The center of the mural was the images of “the great men in the world” with colorful flowers on the side. Many decorated gifts are coming from the sky colored by sky blue and shining gold and received by the Magoso students in their orange and brown uniforms. The mural was as bright as the strong sunshine of Kenya.

Since we have launched the project, we have organized interactive programs such as sharing the original painting draft as 1000 pieces of the puzzle and Skype session to connect children in Japan and Kenya under the theme of “ what can arts do?”
Words are not required when people communicate through art. There are congenial spirits beyond poverty and economic disparity. No matter where they are, children always love to draw and to express.
I came to realize how influential arts can be and how it connects people through this project. I am going to expand this project outside of Kenya and meet more people in various countries hoping to find “something arts can do” by painting murals with people all over the world.

Over the Wall – world mural project
Artist Kensuke Miyazaki


 

Mural Profile

MAGOSO School Kenya Nairobi
7 Feb 2015
300 x 2,000 cm

Crew

Artist
Kensuke Miyazaki
Photographor
Keisuke Ono
Workshop Coordinator
Takuya Yamada
Project Assistant
Collins Odongo
Staff
Daisuke Fukui, Soichiro Gokan, Yuko Katsuki, Bab, Yuri Koyama, Yukiko Sakurada, Miki Hayashi, Yota Mukaiyachi, Bria Filali, Manami Haruyama, Sanae Matsuda
Project Coordinator
Chiaki Hayakawa, MAGOSO School, NGO Amani ya Africa Kenya

Date

1/23
Arrival at Kenya
1/24 – 1/31
Mural Making in MAGOSO School
2/1
Move to village of the Maasai
2/2
Organized “What were you doing yesterday” workshop in village of the Maasai
2/4
Travel back to Nairobi
2/5 – 2/8
Mural Making and Painting Class and workshop in MAGOSO School in Kibera
2/9
Unveiling ceremony for the mural painting
2/10
Return to Japan

Cooperation

Nakameguro Bio Kitchen Studio; Puropera Corp.; Tsukuba University; Saga Tamaya; Kamohara Photo studio; KNOCK Corp.; Koganei Artful Action; nitehi works KUSU HANDMADE; NPO DOOOOOOOO; Sagasiki Corp.; FKI Graphic; M. DESIGN STUDIO; NPO Amani ya Africa; Iida socks Corp.; Ogumiyamae Elementary School; MAGOSO School; Chiaki Hayakawa

Hosted by: Over the Wall-world mural project