Achieng' Owira: My drawings on plus-sized naked women have a body positivity message

When the world shut down last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a young university student decided to look on the bright side of life. Quite literally. And one filled with colour.

Achieng' Owira, 23, and her family relocated to Orongo in the Kano Plains, east of Kisumu Town, three years back, when Covid-19 hit when they had barely settled. She had grown up and had been raised in Mombasa.

Now in Kisumu, and with the city closed, the Moi University student, decided to dabble in painting—an impending talent that she had until then cultivated only in sketching and drawing.

In 2020, as we all probably spent more time alone than we would have liked, this ended up being the most significant year for Achieng'. She was surrounded by the quiet she felt she needed to visualise and create something. "Art is what kept me going. This is a period that also made me connect truly with that side of me. It was a time during which I built on my talent," she shares. 

With time, she says, the weight that she was at the beginning of something important began to sink.

"I've been drawing since I could remember, really," says Achieng', who never attended an art class. "I'm completely self-taught. I recently started learning a few things on YouTube. It's just something I love to do. It was my escape to a place where everything was safe and tranquil….and I didn't even think of it as a career until the lockdown last year."

She started by visiting artists in their studios in Kisumu, and asking them what it would take for her to be like them. She then bought paint and ivory paper and started teaching herself how to paint. "I enjoyed it quite a bit and that is when I realised I had a gift. And I began to think what if I let it bloom. Wouldn't it be a potential career," she says.

Now a visual artist coming into her own, she describes her art as Afro-contemporary. Her production house—The Village Creative, recently exhibited her pieces on Twitter and Instagram. And boy did she stir up a reaction. Mostly for her bold paintings among them, one evocative one showcasing a naked woman rolled on a sofa holding a glass of wine, and another of yet another unclothed woman looking out of the window. 

One of the paintings did kick up quite the storm with some viewers seeming to think that Achieng' was body-shaming fat women. But she is of an alternate view, "I am not body shaming fat women. Rather, I am telling women that they should let go of societal constructs that lie to them that certain bodies are worthier of praise than others. As a woman, I too have my insecurities but I want to tell women that they can love their bodies despite the seasons of change that they go through. I want to inspire women more than anything else because society puts more pressure on them to show up a certain way or behave in a certain way to be acceptable," says the 23-year old. 

In this particular piece which she names 'Wairimu' she says she wanted to free the woman of her fears and inhibitions. "It is a depiction of a woman who at the end of a long day at work has shed everything to be with herself. But I wanted to depict a woman resting after a long day of taking care of chores, now relaxed and letting off steam. It is a reminder to celebrate yourself as you're right now."

Because she grew up in Mombasa most of her paintings have sprinklings of the coastal vibe.

"I do art that celebrates Africa and its people," she says. Some of the pieces are tied to culture shifts, and others are paired with more intimate experiences. "For instance, the painting with a girl seated by the window naked was inspired by what I was feeling at that time. I was craving my own space. I wanted to be free, to just be me—you'll notice there are paintings in the foreground and the lady seems to be seated in a bedroom. That is what I picture my bedroom looking like," she says. 

Still at the nascent stage of her career, Achieng' was hesitant to post her art, "because I was still building up on my skill." But overall I knew it was important to get these pieces out first to properly introduce myself to the world, for critique and also because I want to document this journey so people can see how I've grown over the years. I'm just so grateful that people seem to like the pieces I've released so far."

She prefers to let intuition carry her to wherever it may. "My art is anchored on instinct and intuition. It's not something I can force. I go where my heart leads me."

The first to take the creative route in the family, and the second born in a family of three children, she says it has not been easy trying to convince her mother that this is what she wants to do for a living. "My mother doesn't think this is a career worthy path," says Achieng who says until now she has financed her newfound love.

"Currently, I'm using proceeds from commissioned work and building up my portfolio slowly before I start selling my original art," says the Communication and Public Relations student who graduates this month. "Because paints and canvas are very expensive, I haven't been able to keep any of the money I have made from my pieces. I have to reinvest all the money. And there are many things that I need that I am yet to get like an easel stand. I'm still painting against my bedroom door. But I'm managing."

Achieng' one day hopes to showcase her art globally, and is working towards opening a gallery. "My mum is so tired of my art being everywhere around the house. I'd like my own art studio." 

Achieng' says she will use her communication degree to brand herself as an artist. "People still don't know me that well so I want to use my skills to present myself to the world. I hope to launch my website next year so I can make my art more accessible by selling prints and other merchandise. But I also want to take my art to the public through murals and would also like to mint my first Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on marketplaces such as OpenSea, Zora, Rarible, Foundation, SuperRare and Nifty Gateway, that allow artists to make money on sales of their art digitally in the secondary international market," she shares. In these spaces, people bid on the pieces while still earning a commission from them. Achieng' hoped to hold her first exhibition next year in one of Kenya's fine galleries.

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