Florence Wangui
Where Do We Begin
Picture

'Uhíí ní umagwo no úka ndumagwo'.

'The literal translation is that the man comes out of 'boyhood' but the woman doesn't come out of womanhood. This means that a man goes through initiation and fully attains certain rights but a woman regardless, isn't entitled to any rights really...although it sounds just like another stereotype, there's a truth to it.  As I reflected upon these words of this Kikuyu proverb, I couldn't help but do some introspection in regard to my recent hiatus and also to look around and to ask 'is this all a woman is meant to be'?

The artworks are meant to provoke a conversation regarding the exploration of that emotional space.  What does it look like today? How do we navigate through this space as individuals? How can we build secure attachments while detaching from unhealthy ones? How do we promote autonomy and still thrive as a whole in society? Can we relinquish control and still stand from a position of power?

Where do I begin?'

Florence Wangui - Nairobi - 2024
 My art attempts to express the state I find myself in when revisiting an experience consciously and/or sub-consciously and how this impacts my thought and decision-making processes.  When our minds fail to digest some experiences, there is a tendency to look behind, to go back and brood over and over the occurrence, perhaps in search of insight.

What we find or what finds us, perhaps triggers a release or is met with resistance. There is a desire to conjure up an escape door and abandon all, albeit with no resolution, or to enter into a turbid, stagnant phase that knows no time.

Yesterday knocked at the door. Today answered and asked; "why the sudden visit?". Yesterday responded; "Let me in, I've travelled far enough, I shall let you know tomorrow".

Something's got to give, perhaps the release is near, perhaps a saving grace awaits.

​Florence Wangui - Nairobi - 2024





Florence Wangui - Biography
Florence Wangui is at the forefront of the new generation of Kenyan artists making a big impact both locally and internationally.
Born and raised in Nairobi; her interest in art began in her early childhood years and was a hobby she thoroughly enjoyed.
Wangui shot to prominence with a series of charcoal drawings of chickens from her mother’s coop.  She captured their varying moods and peculiar personalities  with dazzling formal skills.
A natural talent, her childhood drawings were seized upon by her teachers as classroom aids and she went on to complete a degree in Zoology and Biochemistry at Kenyatta University before choosing art as a career.
In this Wangui was mentored by a fellow artist, Patrick Mukabi at the GoDown Arts Centre in Nairobi. He helped her to develop her formal abilities even further before she refined her oil painting technique with the practicing artist Dolores Gomez.

Always adventurous in her choice of media, in 2016 Wangui completed a series of glass panels of the Stations of the Cross for the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Kericho.  She also completed a group of sculptures in bronze for the cathedral doors.

​Wangui continues to produce dynamic and exciting work, primarily in charcoals and oils and often with a Surreal yet accessible slant that interrogates her own experiences within a world that shapes and defines us all.
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Now recognized as an important young talent, she is collected widely at home and abroad and has been included in many important public and private collections.
Wangui is represented by the One Off Contemporary Art Gallery, Nairobi.