The River Meets the Ocean
mural at Seahorse Dockers Primary School
ceramics
Fauzia Aly Khan + Anna Molska
students participating :
Carlos Ontegi Nyabuto, Simon Mathole Shungu, Natasha Mbula, Seline Koki Nzuki, Cynthia Nyaberi
and
Katana Gona
Employing ancient jewelry patterns from Kenya, the artists installed a mosaic made from porcelain and earthenware tiles at the entrance of Seahorse Dockers School in Kilifi with the help of students from Pwani University. The River Meets the Ocean uses locally sourced red clay to tell the story of how Mekatilili wa Menza evaded the British at the Sabaki bridge, near where Tana River joins the Indian Ocean.
Fauzia Aly Khan
I am one of only a few Swahili female artists from the Kenyan coast. Traditionally painting and dye etc. Women were left to basketry, pottery, henna. But this is changing.
My journey with art started as a hobby. Listening to embroidery, smoke stitch, and crochet and crafts with my grandma. With a lot of time at hand, we did happily whatever we were assigned to do.
That interest did not just die. I went along picking various skills from different people and from my travels. Observation has always inspired me to express my feelings and reactions to my surroundings through painting, ceramics, and artsy stuff.
Much later in life when already had children I saw that kids lacked this stimulation. If they learnt anything it was limited. With life changing around us, traditional skills faded.
In a digital age, often where most people seem to press buttons all day. Very few people actually produce anything by hand any more. It is increasingly important that we don’t lose touch with the uniquely human skills of using hand, heart, and mind to produce things. Working with your hands, being creative is now recognized that it’s actually very good for our mental health and well-being.
With this in mind I carved my dream doing artistic things like painting, pottery, ceramics, batik, and much more.
The world of art opened for me all by working from my Veranda in my home… I have been teaching teenagers, adults, and children age 7 and above for over 15 years, alongside doing my own art.
Where are my inspirations. To do more art and focus on lost arts and crafts technique like pottery, ceramics, Batiks. To explore and use old dyes but in modern ways.
Anna Molska
Anna Molska was born in Szczecin in 1980 and is a ceramic designer.
She works at the Academy of Art in Szczecin leading The Laboratory of Ceramic Techniques at the Faculty of Design. She runs her own ceramic studio Open Work where she works with dyed porcelain and stoneware, making limited series of items for cafes, restaurants, and concept stores across Germany, France, and Spain.
In the past she was engaged in educational projects related to historical ceramics at the Ceramic Association. She also lead gallery cafe Kafle in Szczecin, where she curated temporary exhibitions for artists of different art disciplines, mainly related to the community of young artists in Szczecin. Moreover, she collaborated with Basta-animal initiative, with Magazyn Sztuki and Kids Love Design festival.
For several years she has been co-creating the Free Way Democratic School, where she works with children and youth outside of the education system, on the basis of their participation in social life, their creativity and partnership.
Besides design, her fascination focuses on music and sound. She holds degrees in both design and musicology.
