Mika Obanda

Yes, before even starting to cut them, I usually paint them using acrylics with a very thick layer of paint.

And then I mix it with wood glue to make it more stronger.

So these are like my palettes.

I've started with the first testers, which are going to give me a ground for the whole series.

And then I make the pieces, the mosaics, very big artworks.

Yeah, because I've grown in the slums here in Mukuru, Koroben.

I'm trying to show, trying to blossom in the midst of all these hardships, growing in the slum, police brutality, the government misusing funds which are supposed to help people in a particular state or in a particular area.

All those things, I want to address them, but now in a very creative way that is consumable by everyone.

I want to go deep into the challenges that they face, trying to see that artist, everything that affects him as a Kenyan, as an Afrikaner.

Yeah, and what I'm doing currently is just small pieces, like just a test of waters on how far this series can go.

It's titled support system.

That's me sitting there.

And then the family is like, yeah, that's the support system.

So then the candle is showing that the light is not enough.

Yeah, because these are showing the very low moments of an artist moving to a new space where you don't know how it is.

Most of the things are not clear.

So this I collect from hotels in Nairobi.

Every week I would go for them.

Egg shells is like the major part of my studio.

Yeah, first thing first, when I get them, I dry them in the sun.