Frenny Jowi

I was expecting to smell some rotten eggs in here.

They get stronger after painting with acrylic.

And now they're not brittle anymore.

It actually needs quite more force to break the shells.

And what you're working on now, according to your notebook, is number seven, which is entitled You'll Watch Me Flourishing.

What do you use for your canvas?

So this one, we are now on the face of the main character, and you're applying the glue so you can be able to stick the sliced eggshells.

Mshikaki is the Swahili word for skewers, right?

So you apply a little bit of glue on the tip of the bamboo skewer and then that glue enables you to pick the eggshell piece using the skewer and then you stick it manually using your hands.

Mika, this is quite laborious, like sticking all these tiny pieces until you make an entire painting.

So I'll let you do the sticking as I watch you without distracting you because you need to pay attention.

So it's a mixture of colours, the ones that pop out and the ones that are quieter.

You know, one thing I've also noticed is that it ends up giving a rough texture.

So you feel the texture gives your work a bit more superiority or an edge.

Well, that's your style.

I noticed that your studio is in a place where the traffic noise can get very loud and your neighbours can be loud at times.

Does that distract you?

So now I'm just standing behind Mika and I'm giving him some quiet time so he can keep working on this.

Quite a labour of love.

And he's smiling.