Page 57 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 34
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Art without a story is dead
Just Like Faith Without Work Is Dead
By Samuel Phillips
The power of stories Oh, Child!
For the person who can see, there are stories all About five years ago, one of my friends
around us, but the power of art is the storyteller’s Imor Pesa shared a picture of a painting
ability to animate what is unseen by others and then he created with me. Back then I had
give them thoughts and experiences. So when the a personal stock photography website
unlearned see the art, they see paper and paint, or where I posted my photos and also
a photograph but when the learned look, they see allowed friends to share their work. I
the thoughts, the animation, the conversation, the had to close the website after a while
experience…they see the mind of the storyteller. due to the cost of maintenance.
This might sound like a contradiction to the title
of this article, but even a grave that contains the Anyway, he shared this image of a
dry bones of a dead person is also telling a story. A young girl with me. The title of the art
story that all humans, rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, is “Oh, Child”. I instantly loved the
strong or weak will have to embrace at some point. art and asked him who the girl in the
It’s a story that begins with “Once upon a time, there painting was. He told me the girl was
lived a man…or a woman…or a…” his young daughter he lost sometime
back before we became friends. It was
a heartbreaking moment watching him
share the sad story of how he lost his
daughter.
A while after that, my team and I
interviewed him and he shared details
of his art journey, and his challenges
finding himself as a young person
growing up in Kenya. You can read his
amazing story HERE.
Now, looking at his artwork, the peace
on the face of the young girl, and the
dexterity with which Imor narrated his
Oh Child! Art by Imoh Pesa
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