Scenography and Costumes for the Community Theatre were designed and realized by two DUOS : Mike Okoth + Anna Maria Karczmarska and Mbinga + Mikołaj Małek. They collaborated with PU Students, local seamstresses and artisans to realize wooden structure (that was also used as exhibition display and film projection screen), boats, artificial sea, and costumes made of local fabric.
Mbinga
Mwambi Jonathan Mbinga is freelance artist based in Kenya working through abstraction of photographs, whose works revolve around still life re living themselves through a new perceived meaning so as to be understood better as entities constituting life. The process is the abstraction of Imagery through photographs and overlays to challenge creative boundaries and stimulate thinking, exploring more unconventional methods of interpretation and presentation. I work to reveal the sublime concealed within the ‘ordinary’. This necessitates slowing down, upholding responsiveness and paying close attention to details. My choice of subject comes from a place of intuition and is fuelled by an impetuous desire to partake in the stories that unfold around me. Main interest is humans and the society, since man is a social animal, Society has become an essential condition, more so a fundamental defect for human life to arise and to continue. The shift from society to individualization meant creation of photographs that hints at a perspective space with its plans to some extent to evoke the pressure & urge of conformity.
Anna Maria Karczmarska & Mikołaj Małek
Mike Okoth
Mike Okoth also known as The Black Cob, is a 25-year-old non-binary interior designer who runs Black Cob Design House in Kilifi that was founded at the beginning of 2021 after graduating from the Nairobi Institute of Technology. I am a multi-faceted artist that also enjoys fashion and dabbles in fashion design and styling. Like many designers, I view interior design in particular and design more generally as a storytelling medium. Black Cob is primarily focused on designing and building furniture utilizing Swahili carpentry techniques, and over time I have changed to only using Kilifi’s most plentiful wood, the neem tree, also known locally as Mkilifi where I include my stories and my enjoyment of Swahili history and culture into the furnishings and settings I design, and I ask my customers to join me in helping them discover and share their own stories in their homes and places of business.
My furniture creates stages for people to occupy and claim spaces without being intrusive or noisy and to bring my ideas to life. I have found and worked with local artisans and carpenters in
accordance with the ethics of my production method. To prevent waste and bad business speculation, all of my furniture is made to order. It is also, to the extent possible, handmade and carved in remembrance of Swahili design traditions.
