When international performers from Poland paired up with their local counterparts for the second season of the Duos Festivals in Kilifi town, it was a weekend to remember.
Both put on a show of pomp and color, sending the normally calm Kilifi into a frenzy as revelers caught a glimpse of the action.
The festival, which has as its subject the empowerment of women through art, brought together artists from Polland and Kenya who exchanged ideas and rehearsed with kids and the community.
It was part of the Trans-Cultural Perspectives in Art and Education (TPAAE) Project, which involved collaborations between artists from Kilifi and artists/instructors from the Art Academy of Szczecin, a city in northwestern Poland.
Interestingly the duos festival took Mijikenda Heroine Mekatilili Menza as their honorary patron with the Kenyan artists being members of Daughters of Mekatilili a cultural association that’s enables female empowerment thro9ugh art activism.
Journalists witnessed the work of the artists from the Studio where some of the work is presented, Mazingira park, at Pwani University where they presented street art.
According to Zorka Wollny the curator and director of Duos Festival, the festival was part of a big project that is dedicated to art and education.
She said they work with many partners through the funding from the European Union’s horizon 2020 research and innovation program.
During the two days over the weekend, she said the duos were showcasing the work they have been doing for the last three weeks.
One of the artists Shila Okanga who had been paired with a Polish artist said they were doing animation with six students from the university and the community who were all interested in animation.
Okanga said she personally was not an animator but was really honored to be part of the team doing animation.
She said the daughters of Mekatilili association were supported to get a space at the studio where they will be able to teach others art.
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George Kithi a renowned Lawyer from Kilifi who was one of the sponsors said the connection amongst all human beings was the synergy of art adding that although there are diverse cultures the whole art resonance to one thing creation of mind and creativity.
Kithi said the art not only connected people together but uplift those talents and make people realize that they can have comfort in art.
He said there have been enough resources pumped in other areas but less funding in the art to advocate for art to be a source of employment not only for youth but the country.
Kithi who is aspiring to be a senator for Kilifi said his aim is to change the story where artists from Kilifi never benefitted from their work so as to see it as a source of employment and wealth creation.
Part of the idea of the festival was also to advocate against the challenges faced by the community including high rates of violence against women and teenage pregnancies to provide people with ideas and avenues for combating the issues.
*This article was written by Ramadhan Kambi for Uzalendo News. Email: uzalendonews24@gmail.com to submit your story.
