Artist Talk: Reclaiming Spaces with Kaloki Nyamai
Kaloki Nyamai is a Nairobi-based artist whose multidisciplinary practice explores identity, memory, and spirituality within the African experience. From an early age, his mother introduced him to painting and taught him to draw, fostering an ever-lasting interest in art throughout his life. He often finds inspiration in his grandmother’s stories of the Kamba people, a Bantu ethnic group of eastern Kenya. Using materials like acrylic paint, sisal rope, photo transfers, and stitched yarn, Nyamai’s free-hanging pieces evoke the healing of historical wounds and a collective yearning for renewal. His works blur the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and installation, creating cohesive, immersive experiences where past, present, and future converge poetically.
This program is the opening event for the Institute for the Humanities exhibition of Nyamai’s work: Kaloki Nyamai: Tuukelile Vaa. An opening reception with the artist will follow the talk at the Institute for the Humanities, 202 S. Thayer, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Refreshments will be provided.
For the occasion, UMMA has installed Nyamai’s Tusukane, a large-scale mixed media work in our Gallery of African Art through Spring 2026. The Gallery will be open prior to the talk. Arrive early to check it out.
Free and open to the public, no registration required.
About the Artist
Kaloki Nyamai
Kaloki Nyamai is a multidisciplinary artist working with installation, painting, and sculpture living and working in Nairobi. Nyamai studied Interior Design at the Buruburu Institute Of Fine Arts (BIFA) and then pursued painting after working in other creative fields. His large-scale paintings and mixed-media installations intricately explore historical narratives, examining their resonance in the present. Nyamai has shown his work across the globe in solo exhibitions at the Norval Foundation, Cape Town (2024); James Cohan Gallery, New York (2024); Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin (2023 and 2022); SEPTIEME Gallery, Paris (2019), and other venues. In 2023, he featured part of his series Dining in Chaos in the “Unlimited” section at Art Basel in Basel. He has participated in group exhibitions and biennials, most recently at the Sharjah Biennial 16, Sharjah (2025); The Völklinger Hütte, Völklingen (2024); the Kenyan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Venice (2022); and the Dakar Biennale (2022). His works are part of numerous private and institutional collections around the world, such as the Dallas Art Museum, the Southern African Foundation for Contemporary Art, and the Arthur Primas Museum. He is the founder of Kamene Cultural and Research Center, an independent space for artistic and cultural exploration.
SUPPORT
Presented in partnership with the Institute for the Humanities and the Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series.
Lead support for We Write to You About Africa is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, and the African Studies Center.