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In the Studio: Kenyan artist Wangari Mathenge

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Wangari Mathenge

30/04/2024 GMT

Kenyan artist Wangari Mathenge

BBC World Service - In the Studio, Kenyan artist Wangari Mathenge

Exploring the plight of female domestic workers in Kenya through art

We follow artist Wangari Mathenge as she paints a series of large portraits depicting female domestic workers in her native Kenya.

Wangari Mathenge used to be a high-flying corporate lawyer before turning to her first love of art. She likes to express herself through her colourful palette and figurative paintings, exploring her African culture, identity and past. More recently she has turned to immersive installation. 

For this In The Studio, arts journalist Anna Bailey follows Wangari as she creates her second immersive experience at the Pippy Houldsworth Gallery. It’s a life-sized replica of her Nairobi studio and this is where she invited 20 female domestic workers to have a day of rest, while also painting large-scale portraits of them for a new series of work which celebrates female domestic workers in Kenya.

Wangari also invites listeners into her Chicago studio, where she is working on the next painting in the series. But as Anna finds out, rest is not only important to the workers but to Wangari herself.

Presenter and producer Anna Bailey
Executive producer Andrea Kidd.

(Photo: Wangari Mathenge. Credit: Wangari Mathenge)

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