Investigating the mysteries around the closure of Kenya’s leading galleries

Established in 2001 by Mary Collins and Carol Lees with ample funding from the Ford Foundation and the Rahimtulla Trust, RaMoMA became a stellar exhibition space for contemporary African art in Kenya. It housed a breathtaking permanent collection of paintings, sculptures, art installations and videos, most of which had been donated by artists, benefactors or bought for the purposes of growing the collection for Kenya’s benefit and future generations.

This treasure trove featured works by the acclaimed Kivuthi Mbuno, gems from Joseph Mbatia (../../Bertiers.jpg), popular pieces by Mary Collins, Jak Katarikawe, and Wanyu Brush who won a national Head of State Commendation for painting in 2010. Visitors would also see periodical exhibitions from artists leaving their mark in the Kenyan scene. It was based in Upper Hill but relocated to a larger space on 2^nd Parklands Avenue, a generous donation by the Valdor Trust in 2008.

The gallery also had different galleries, such as a Photographic gallery, a sculpture garden and hosted regular workshops and open-air performances outside. So what happened to this anchor of culture nestled in Nairobi’s suburb?

Mary Collis stepped down as chair of trustees and Carol Lees left to start another gallery, the One-off Gallery. “The job of running a gallery moved from being primarily artistic to largely administrative, and specialist knowledge is needed of things like value added tax and the plethora of rules and regulations that any business must understand,” said Lees before her exit. “It became increasingly apparent to me that it was time to move. Fresh insight was wanted and I think the trustees felt RaMoMA needed new direction and a different management structure,” reflects Lees.

The trustees hired a programme coordinator who, according to those in the know, “couldn’t hack it and left in haste”. The decline was immediate and brutal resulting in the departure of Tony Wainaina, Frost Josiah and Camille Wekesa.

The gallery’s doors were closed officially in 2010 narrowing avenues for artists to present their latest works. The final synopsis was that the management struggled for some time with bad economy and organizational issues and finally decided to close down.

Another gallery that flailed and flopped is Gallery Watatu. Gallery Watatu opened in 1969 and is one of the earliest exhibition spaces in Kenya. It was started by three artists ; Jony Waite, Robin Anderson and David Hart who sold it off to Ruth Schafner and her husband, Adama Diawara, and finally the directorship of Kofi Osei.

Due to failure to cover a whopping Ksh 1.3 million in rent arrears for their Lonhro House premises, Gallery Watatu was forced to auction the artwork it housed several times including masterpieces being sold for as little as Ksh. 100. The Gallery finally closed in 2012.

Tabitha Thuku, leading artist recounts, “I was one of the casualties of the regrettable closure of the gallery. After Schaffner’s death, Adama Diawara was left to take care of the gallery, but the task proved too much a challenge for him. Obviously, he was not very literate. He could not do his maths well and so his managers stole huge amounts of artwork and traded them secretly. And since Kenyan artists are not good team-builders - we don’t care about each other - the gallery was auctioned off and Kenyan artists lost a lot of valuable artwork. Personally, I feel the gallery never added any tangible value to Kenyan art,” she says.