About a year ago, I saw an interesting painting at the home of Hellmuth & Erica Musch-Rossler, gallery owners and art-loving friends in Kenya. It was by a Kenyan artist, Camille Wekesa, and I learned that she also was involved in promoting conservation. Art and ecology are two of my primary passions, so I looked into her work. It was fascinating — I wanted to meet her, but my trip was ending and I could not make it happen.
Months later I reached out from the US, and she welcomed meeting me this year. She’s in a rural region about three hours north of Nairobi, which gave me an excuse to visit a new part of Kenya. Camille is warm and thoughtful. She has the quiet confidence of someone who has earned mastery in her discipline. This is paired with the geninue curiosity and attentiveness of a wise person who still humbly learns from others. I quickly saw the many ways she generously gives of her time and energy.
Her father is Kenyan (a former veterinarian surgeon) and her Scottish mom managed the household. Camille and her two siblings grew up on the large family farm, with animals and a memorable acacia tree forest on the property. She fondly recalls camping trips, and visiting parks as a child, and credits her parents for encouraging a healthy relationship with the natural world.
She was creative early on and her parents supported her pursuit of art. She did her university studies in Florence, Milan & Rome. After graduation she began doing mural work, which led to a six years as a creative professional for hire living in London. Eager to return to her own art, and out of the urban setting, she returned to her homeland, Kenya. Though Nairobi was greener than London, after a bit she felt a pull to be in a rural, more spacious setting.
Through mural commissions she became familiar with Nanyuki, and the many nearby preserves and conservatories. It’s a small city of about 30,000 mostly native Kenyans, with a number of old estates established largely by Europeans or adopted by recent expats. She became fond of the eclectic small town, about 30 km northwest of Mt. Kenya, and settled in Nanyuki over a decade ago.
We have similar interests in the natural world and each recognize preserving what’s left must involve revising the relationship of people to the geography and environment in which they live. We both appreciate the simple lifestyle of communities in rural settings. Camille’s place is a short drive along an inconspicuous, rutted dirt road lined by local dwellings and shops. Her homestead reflects her aesthetic: one of humans in harmony with the earth.
Intertwined with her mural work, she quickly established herself a few decades ago among the first generation of landscape painters in Kenya. Her earlier paintings were a more direct “documentation” [her word] of Kenyan lands and sites, surprisingly, something rarely being done by Kenyan artists. In the few of her early paintings I saw, I could feel a nod to Italian light and depictions of vistas as in the 16th century, as well as a certain precision of craft. Always open to influences, she has also studied Asian landscape traditions which are a bit less literal and aim to present the feel place. She admitted it was difficult to pin down prominent artistic influences because so many had affected her perspective, and she continues to learn.
Of late, her paintings are more abstract and evocative, less directly descriptive of objects, and more suggestive of the character of a forest, a cluster of trees, or a section of branches. I feel they might be seen as depicting the forces of nature. She has a lifelong love of trees and branching forms have taken prominence as one of the primary vehicles of expression in her imagery. These could also be interpreted as sprouting organic growth on a microscopic level, or the ever-expanding cosmos.
She told me this motif has emerged unconsciously, which is fitting. The layered colors and sinewy yet elegant tendrils project a vitality that is at once felt in each individual form striving, yet also as a fully integrated, pulsing whole. To me they can be sensed as a glimpse into the dynamism of all life forms, whether observed in micro or macro scale.
Due to her love of the land and all beings, Camille has a longheld interest in conservation. She also recognizes the value of engaging with the human community, both in it expanding her own creativity and empowering all involved in the achievement of larger goals.
Toward this end, she’s remade several of the structures on her small estate to suit this vocation. A small barn once used to store feed has been transformed by raising the ceiling, pouring a concrete floor, and adding several large windows. It’s now her welcoming, comfortable, efficiently laid out, light-flooded studio. A couple of old building spaces formerly used as stores have been remodeled into a simple two bedroom apt. She can now host artists-in-residence. She’s recently secured support to set up a couple of wonderful “tiny studios”, these are set amid a copse of trees, and used for intimate art workshops with small groups of kids, or as open-air studios for herself or visiting artists.
In a brilliant wedding of intentions, Camille has married together her ecological concerns with her creative profession. In tandem with art camps for kids, she co founded a non-profit conservation association. This local women-led, primate preservation project is working to preserve the riparian buffers on a local river. The primate issue and the rivers are connected because farming and grazing along it can cause disruption of the river and vegetation along its banks. Such “breaks” in the natural corridors impede or can prevent the natural flow of the wildlife, in particular several species of primates particularly the black and white colobus monkey. Sadly, like so many species across the globe, both their numbers and habitat are rapidly declining so such pathways are evermore crucial to their survival.
The group is Ontulili Primates Protection Project. https://oppsite.wixsite.com/ontuliliprimates/about-us . Wisely, by empowering these determined and dedicated women (always a powerful resource but especially in many African cultures), they ensure commitment and sharing of the understanding among the broader community. In addition it’s an effective way to get local farmers to adjust their behavior toward more sustainable practices as trust is more easily established via the local folks.
The source of the Ontulili river begins on Mt. Kenya and the path of the river flows adjacent her land. The collective meets on site and some of the childrens’ workshops tie simple creative projects with ecological issues. The kids are both directly and indirectly guided to a better understanding of the scientific and holistic reality of the human place within the earth’s systems. A crucial key to stemming the wasteful and arrogant path our modern way tends to encourage.
Beyond these noble ventures, Camille’s laying the foundations for an eco/art venue on another patch of her land. She has served on the board of several organizations including the Karura Forest and The Great Rift Valley Trust, among several others.
She established her own foundation, https://www.orkedifoundation.com , to promote this evolving initiative. Plots are awaiting use as functional gardens, gathering places, and art installations. On site she’s planned a series of eight unique circular concrete “gathering spaces” echoing traditional mud huts of the region. In each one she intends to design and paint wrap around murals illustrating one of Kenya’s ecosystems. I was able to visit the first completed structure (the interior lighting and a few small details not quite complete). This mural features the ecosystem of the Aberdare’s Forest, one of Kenya’s primary water sources.
There’s something special about being in circular dwellings, as my yurt-familiar friends can attest. They become all the more magical when one is literally surrounded by a glowing painting that embodies the colorful diversity of an ecosystem. The mural’s composition and design are enhanced by a skillful and beautiful sense of pattern, flow, and rhythm. The whole effect subtly yet powerfully reinforces an awareness of the interwoven cycles of this thing we call life. Her longterm goal is to use these spaces and the two acres of land as farming/gardening/artistic sites, merging function, beauty, and educational opportunities.
As she expressed, part of the appeal of Nanyuki is “…In rural Kenya, if you have an idea, you can still just dive into bringing it into reality, without too much bureaucracy or expense.” Hard work, a noble community-oriented vision, creative skills, compassion, courage, and a strong dose of Chutzpah certainly help!
https://camillewekesa.com/paintings/
.
Months later I reached out from the US, and she welcomed meeting me this year. She’s in a rural region about three hours north of Nairobi, which gave me an excuse to visit a new part of Kenya. Camille is warm and thoughtful. She has the quiet confidence of someone who has earned mastery in her discipline. This is paired with the geninue curiosity and attentiveness of a wise person who still humbly learns from others. I quickly saw the many ways she generously gives of her time and energy.
Her father is Kenyan (a former veterinarian surgeon) and her Scottish mom managed the household. Camille and her two siblings grew up on the large family farm, with animals and a memorable acacia tree forest on the property. She fondly recalls camping trips, and visiting parks as a child, and credits her parents for encouraging a healthy relationship with the natural world.
She was creative early on and her parents supported her pursuit of art. She did her university studies in Florence, Milan & Rome. After graduation she began doing mural work, which led to a six years as a creative professional for hire living in London. Eager to return to her own art, and out of the urban setting, she returned to her homeland, Kenya. Though Nairobi was greener than London, after a bit she felt a pull to be in a rural, more spacious setting.
Through mural commissions she became familiar with Nanyuki, and the many nearby preserves and conservatories. It’s a small city of about 30,000 mostly native Kenyans, with a number of old estates established largely by Europeans or adopted by recent expats. She became fond of the eclectic small town, about 30 km northwest of Mt. Kenya, and settled in Nanyuki over a decade ago.
We have similar interests in the natural world and each recognize preserving what’s left must involve revising the relationship of people to the geography and environment in which they live. We both appreciate the simple lifestyle of communities in rural settings. Camille’s place is a short drive along an inconspicuous, rutted dirt road lined by local dwellings and shops. Her homestead reflects her aesthetic: one of humans in harmony with the earth.
Intertwined with her mural work, she quickly established herself a few decades ago among the first generation of landscape painters in Kenya. Her earlier paintings were a more direct “documentation” [her word] of Kenyan lands and sites, surprisingly, something rarely being done by Kenyan artists. In the few of her early paintings I saw, I could feel a nod to Italian light and depictions of vistas as in the 16th century, as well as a certain precision of craft. Always open to influences, she has also studied Asian landscape traditions which are a bit less literal and aim to present the feel place. She admitted it was difficult to pin down prominent artistic influences because so many had affected her perspective, and she continues to learn.
Of late, her paintings are more abstract and evocative, less directly descriptive of objects, and more suggestive of the character of a forest, a cluster of trees, or a section of branches. I feel they might be seen as depicting the forces of nature. She has a lifelong love of trees and branching forms have taken prominence as one of the primary vehicles of expression in her imagery. These could also be interpreted as sprouting organic growth on a microscopic level, or the ever-expanding cosmos.
She told me this motif has emerged unconsciously, which is fitting. The layered colors and sinewy yet elegant tendrils project a vitality that is at once felt in each individual form striving, yet also as a fully integrated, pulsing whole. To me they can be sensed as a glimpse into the dynamism of all life forms, whether observed in micro or macro scale.
Due to her love of the land and all beings, Camille has a longheld interest in conservation. She also recognizes the value of engaging with the human community, both in it expanding her own creativity and empowering all involved in the achievement of larger goals.
Toward this end, she’s remade several of the structures on her small estate to suit this vocation. A small barn once used to store feed has been transformed by raising the ceiling, pouring a concrete floor, and adding several large windows. It’s now her welcoming, comfortable, efficiently laid out, light-flooded studio. A couple of old building spaces formerly used as stores have been remodeled into a simple two bedroom apt. She can now host artists-in-residence. She’s recently secured support to set up a couple of wonderful “tiny studios”, these are set amid a copse of trees, and used for intimate art workshops with small groups of kids, or as open-air studios for herself or visiting artists.
In a brilliant wedding of intentions, Camille has married together her ecological concerns with her creative profession. In tandem with art camps for kids, she co founded a non-profit conservation association. This local women-led, primate preservation project is working to preserve the riparian buffers on a local river. The primate issue and the rivers are connected because farming and grazing along it can cause disruption of the river and vegetation along its banks. Such “breaks” in the natural corridors impede or can prevent the natural flow of the wildlife, in particular several species of primates particularly the black and white colobus monkey. Sadly, like so many species across the globe, both their numbers and habitat are rapidly declining so such pathways are evermore crucial to their survival.
The group is Ontulili Primates Protection Project. https://oppsite.wixsite.com/ontuliliprimates/about-us . Wisely, by empowering these determined and dedicated women (always a powerful resource but especially in many African cultures), they ensure commitment and sharing of the understanding among the broader community. In addition it’s an effective way to get local farmers to adjust their behavior toward more sustainable practices as trust is more easily established via the local folks.
The source of the Ontulili river begins on Mt. Kenya and the path of the river flows adjacent her land. The collective meets on site and some of the childrens’ workshops tie simple creative projects with ecological issues. The kids are both directly and indirectly guided to a better understanding of the scientific and holistic reality of the human place within the earth’s systems. A crucial key to stemming the wasteful and arrogant path our modern way tends to encourage.
Beyond these noble ventures, Camille’s laying the foundations for an eco/art venue on another patch of her land. She has served on the board of several organizations including the Karura Forest and The Great Rift Valley Trust, among several others.
She established her own foundation, https://www.orkedifoundation.com , to promote this evolving initiative. Plots are awaiting use as functional gardens, gathering places, and art installations. On site she’s planned a series of eight unique circular concrete “gathering spaces” echoing traditional mud huts of the region. In each one she intends to design and paint wrap around murals illustrating one of Kenya’s ecosystems. I was able to visit the first completed structure (the interior lighting and a few small details not quite complete). This mural features the ecosystem of the Aberdare’s Forest, one of Kenya’s primary water sources.
There’s something special about being in circular dwellings, as my yurt-familiar friends can attest. They become all the more magical when one is literally surrounded by a glowing painting that embodies the colorful diversity of an ecosystem. The mural’s composition and design are enhanced by a skillful and beautiful sense of pattern, flow, and rhythm. The whole effect subtly yet powerfully reinforces an awareness of the interwoven cycles of this thing we call life. Her longterm goal is to use these spaces and the two acres of land as farming/gardening/artistic sites, merging function, beauty, and educational opportunities.
As she expressed, part of the appeal of Nanyuki is “…In rural Kenya, if you have an idea, you can still just dive into bringing it into reality, without too much bureaucracy or expense.” Hard work, a noble community-oriented vision, creative skills, compassion, courage, and a strong dose of Chutzpah certainly help!
https://camillewekesa.com/paintings/
.
Above: From Camille’s website, an earlier landscape “documenting” her homeland.
Below: (Left) The renovated store buildings turned into two-bedroom apt for guests/artists in residence. The mural was painted by a visiting artist. (Right) Camille and guest local artist Boniface guiding young on es in a workshop in one of the mini-studios on the grounds.
Below: (Left) The renovated store buildings turned into two-bedroom apt for guests/artists in residence. The mural was painted by a visiting artist. (Right) Camille and guest local artist Boniface guiding young on es in a workshop in one of the mini-studios on the grounds.
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Camille merging within her glowing mural in the first completed circular building in the evolving eco-art village.
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