4 minute read
Tanzania’s Culture
How One Tanzanian Artist is Bringing His Culture to Life with a Bic Biro.
George Machumu is a 22 year old artist from Temeke, Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. When we discovered his incredible art on Instagram, we just had to reach out to him to see if we could showcase his work and his story in Low Season Traveller. We asked him about his love for art and how he came to create his works using only a Bic Biro.
“My love for art began when I was a young boy, around 6 years old. I used to draw cars, chairs, houses and had fun drawing stick men. My teachers then had me help with class preparation by drawing parts of the human body. So, my passion for art was growing day by day. My mother is my role model, she was my inspiration. When I was a little boy I would watch her drawing dresses, gowns, trousers and other clothing as she was a Tailor. One day she asked who I wanted to be. I replied to her that I want to become an artist all over the world. She laughed at me. Then after a few days she bought me pencils, colours and sketch books. She was my inspiration and my superhero. I really got into art as I loved seeing people’s feelings and making them happy through my art. I am also making a small living as when I sell a piece, I am able to buy food and pay rent.”
“I had no idea about drawing with a Bic pen. Most of my art I drew with graphite pencils but due to the lack of money, these and other supplies were hard to come by. I had only one choice, the Bic pen, I found in my mother’s bag. So, from that day I used a Bic pen and the art felt good as it was easy to control and put detail into my artwork. I also had some challenges as people could not support my art in the community. They don’t consider art as a full-time job like other jobs. So, a lack of better tools and a lack of support from relatives and the community has made my journey difficult. “
“Great human artists inspire people. I want to inspire people with my art. I want to help people who are struggling like me by teaching them to draw. I want to help children live out their dreams. I want to make it a better place and educate my society that art is a good job like any other job. Nursing, teacher and so on.”
We would like to recognise and thank Mr Robert Aswani who is Machumu’s mentor. Mr Aswani manages his own art gallery in Tanzania where he hosts events for local children to teach them art and keep them focused on their studies.
His only ‘fee’ is their school attendance report card.
He is mentoring Machumu not in his art, as by his words “I can teach Machumu nothing about art as he has a God given talent”, but mentors him about life and his artistic journey.
If you would like to support Machumu’s work or commission a piece, you can find him on Instagram at @machumu_arts or you can email him on: kg6178019@gmail.com.
