Two girls using art to repaint Garissa narrative on women

Garissa County is dominated by the Somali, a patriarchal community that leaves the female gender with little voice.

Here, women are victims of marginalisation, subordination, stereotype and violence, but two girls have sought to break the patriarchal trap through art.

Kowsar Ahmed Abdi and Umulhkeir Ahmed Shalle are set on a journey that will transform their society’s perspective of women and girls.

The two have joined hands in Garissa town, informing society of the need for change.

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“We are a group of artists based in Garissa town who came together with an aim of using our talent to advocate for a better community” Kowsar says.

Umulkheir says passion pushed her into art.

“I wanted to fill the gap in our patriarchal community. We decided to use art as an advocacy to educate our people. We want our people to visualise our situation through illustration and art to better understand their surroundings,” Umulkheir says.

She says they needed to explain the importance of education through art.

Kowsar, a graduate of Catholic University, says art has been part of her life since she studied it as a subject at Moi Girls’ High School, Eldoret.

“Since I was young, art has been part of me, but I never thought of ever using it as an advocacy strategy in my adult life,” she says.

“Even at high school, art was just one of the subjects you do and move on, but I realised it meant a lot after I met my partner here who is also an artist.”

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She believes God wants her to use it to make the world a better place.

Umulkheir says she never studied art in school, but the passion for graffiti back in the day shaped her. Her mother’s death in 2021 pushed her into using art as a therapy to heal from the loss.

“I always felt better after drawing and painting whenever I remembered my late mother. Art kept me going throughout the Covid-19 lockdown.”

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She sharpened her skills during the lockdown as she had much time at her disposal.

“I switched to commercialising art by talking to hotels in town to allow me to sell them my artworks and meeting Kowsary made things better and easier.”

Umulkheir studied at Gilgil Hills Senior Academy.

“We are the only girls doing artwork in Garissa, but we are working with our male counterparts as we reach out to other girls willing to join us.”

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Lydia Galavu, the curator of contemporary art at the Nairobi National Museum, says female artists are generally fewer in the country, regardless of region.

Women, even if they study art or have the talent, when they get married and have children, art begins to take a back seat as they focus on family, she explains.

“Female artists are generally fewer in the country, regardless of region, because they are busy doing other things,” Lydia adds.

Umulkheir and Kowsar agreed to work together in March 2022. They met at a workshop organised by a local nongovernmental organisation.

“We agreed to join hands and work together because we had a similar talent,” Umulkheir says.

Their first piece of work was towards the 2022 General Election when the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem) contracted them to spread the message of peaceful elections through their artwork.

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“We had our first opportunity to showcase our art when Supkem approached us to advocate for a peaceful electioneering period,” Umulkheir says.

This came as a breakthrough for these two. Despite criticism from a section of locals, most people appreciated their artwork and started buying their drawings and graffiti.

The two found it difficult to convince the community that women are capable of drawing and painting appealing images.

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“We still have people who doubt what we are doing. They believe we have other people drawing and painting everything for us,” Umulkheir says.

To beat the discouragement, they have focused on consistency and hard work.

“We are doing well in Garissa town because anyone who wants any piece of art and branding has to contact us then we make referrals,” Kowsar says.

The duo say nurturing young talents across Garissa is their plan so that more residents can be self-reliant.

“We just want to create employment for talented youths in Garissa and we are looking forward to opening a workshop that can accommodate all the up-and-coming talents in graffiti works,” Kowsar says.

Through their artwork, they are focusing on fighting radicalisation and drug abuse.

“If we get donors and financial support then we can have an art school to serve the three counties in this region. We want to see youths become self-reliant through art,” Umulkheir says.

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For them, art also therapeutic and boosts mental health.

“We keep organising events where youths just come and enjoy painting. We look at art as a therapy,” Umulkheir says.

They have urged the county government to come on board and support artwork.

“We are getting little support from our county government at the moment. We need funds to set up a workshop and get materials for our artwork,” Umulkheir says.

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They attribute their success to one Osman Ibrahim, aka Oscar Graphics, a leading artist in Garissa town.

“Oscar has been helpful to us as he mentored us and has been taking us through artwork and new techniques,” Kowsar says.

The two run a weekly painting event dubbed Brush with Umi and Koko where most budding artists paint their sorrows away.

They hope more women will be inspired to become artists.

“More and more women are exhibiting in the museum. The women and men in that space are just as competitive, as long as they have talent, they are creating and showcasing art.

“I would give it 65 per cent male and 35 per cent female participation if I needed to compare on a pie chart,” Lydia concludes.