Conversations with Tahir Carl about his Jua Kali Exhibition

Photos courtesy of Kuona Trust

From July 17th to 27th Mixed media artist Tahir Carl Karmali collaborated with Found object artist Dennis Muraguri and Glass Master Tonney Mugo to bring the Jua Kali exhibition and installation to us lovers of all things creatively interesting and the result is a captivating and well thought out installation.

The gallery at Kuona Art Centre is lined with fantastic portraits by Karmali featuring people accentuated by objects. All kinds of people walk in during the opening and make a tour of the gallery stopping and musing at the detail and the meaning in the images as well as the two huge cogs standing brazenly in the middle of the room, one larger than the other. Created using a collection of scrap metal and found objects, an image of a Jua Kali city represents how the informal sector as the force that drives Nairobi.. The final sensation from the room is of walking into a Jua Kali space, a fictitious yet familiar place with characters and texture.

As described in the release ‘Jua Kali is an exhibition of works that represents the journey of the artisan into self-creation. The exhibition is inspired by the informal sector built from the opportunistic personality and perseverance of the Jua Kali worker who often use recycled or found objects to develop their creations.’

UP catches up with Tahir Carl Karmali to unravel his inspiration and the meaning behind the pieces.

Who are the people in the portraits?

Basically, these are a collection of portraits I have taken during my time at Kuona, over the year I’ve been here. The whole idea of Jua Kali is this sense of serendipity, these chance encounters with people, and the stories and glimpses you get into their lives. And how these objects and these personalities I have of them, or the ideas I want to put onto their face merge to create this fictitious world around them.

You’re working with Dennis Muraguri and Tonney Mugo, why?

Dennis because he also works with found objects and I really like his sculpture; and all of the bits and pieces that we use to create the wheels are also from Dennis’ scrap file. So for the large part that’s a huge influence; how I chanced upon it and started photographing these people and creating these characters. I wanted to include him in the exhibition because his work is actually one of the inspirations as well, it’s nice to have the Kenyan inspiration as well; where you are inspired by your fellow artist.

Tonney I worked with because of his understanding of architecture; how to put things together, and how to structure the entire installation. As well as because he felt he connected very well with the concept that is being discussed at Jua Kali.

You have a wide selection of portraits in the installation; I saw one that was an angel, and another that looked like a prophet. There is also focus on the head and the heart using spanners to pick them up, or motherboards. Where did you get the ideas for the images?

I wanted part of the head to look like it functions, so there’s a sense of functionality around it. I wanted to do that with the heart as well; there are some which have red as the heart, others which have a very cold heart: it was this idea that these two primary spaces of function. Others I put eyes, playing with the idea of sight and perception, it’s just basically how you connect with people you look at- their heart, their eyes…

Is the process very visual, or is it more of a feeling?

How it works is that I collect the photographs and I put them in one space, and I focus on one person and think: what if she was an angel made out of scrap, and I made it. I just sort of figured it out with each person. Instead looking at precisely how I want to do it, I have a rough idea of what the person looks like in my head and then sort of work with the images. So it works kind of in a Jua Kali manner, it just works out, it’s something that is found. I say I’ll try this, and try our best to make it work, and that’s how the images come together.

Did you have any specific inspiration?

In collaging? H. R Giger, and Viktor Koen, the idea of using dual layering came from these guys, their methodology of how they created surreality.

How do you feel about photography in Kenya at the moment?

We need to look at creating photographs as a 2D object, not something you perceive digitally. Because a lot of the time I feel like in terms of consumption of photographs in Kenya, a lot of people consume them digitally and you see them on the digital camera, it’s not often that people go to print.

I think that’s also applies to the characters I’ve chosen and the concept behind Jua Kali, is similar to that of Value because there’s the thread and methodology of how it has been made and this piece is very different because Value was based primarily on concept. It’s more about the use of the photograph and this one is developing the photograph and creating a photograph around and using this concept.

What next, what projects are you working on?

Actually I have a secret installation that’s coming out in August, really soon, like less than a weeks time. It’s at Paul Onditi’s new gallery, and is based on another concept where the digital image created also reflects how the image was created. So the content of what you’re seeing is the same as the content of how it was made.

So when you see the image you can see how it was made?

Well sort of, you have to see it to visualize, when you see it you’ll understand.

By Ondi Madete