Ma' Nanas February 2020

MA' NANAS FEB 2020

THE BIGGEST ISSUE EVER TRAVEL WITH NJOKI THE NOMAD VALENTINE LOOK BOOK

GRAPHIC LINER LOOK BY MARYB ARTISTRY

SOLOMON LUVAI

Starement earrings from Recho's Fashion Sense on Instagram and Facebook.

2

Recho's Fashion Sense 3

Art by Solomon Luvai 4

CONTENTS 7

SOLOMON LUVAI Solomon aka trace tattoos is a local Charcoal and Tattoo artist

11

VALENTINE'S SHOOT Our very own mood board this Valentine's day.

19

22

KAWINT A brief story on Winnie and her lover for art.

MARYB ARTISTRY Getting your Valentine's make up in check.

5

30

NJOKI THE NOMAD Travelling solo 101

35

OYAH STUDIO Love and art

37

HUGS KE An event on mental Health Awareness in the wild.

EDITOR'S NOTE DISCOVERING ARTISTS AND THEIR ART

Hello February!

Issue no. 2 in the books, whoop! Making these magazines gives me such a great amount of satisfaction in spite of all the difficult work, weight and subtleties that to go into them. In this particular issue, I have included a number of specialists sharing what they love doing most.

Our element story is Solomon Luvai addressing a couple of inquiries for us, a snappy Kim K propelled style temperament board by Christie and a dunk into the universe of Travel by Njoki the Nomad.

Let us demonstrate some adoration to the specialists who are doing their absolute best to give us such excellent bits of work.

Appreciate the read!

Wasonga 6

TRACE TATTOOS

7

LOVE IS LAW

What do you love the most about art? Art is diverse,art does not work with competition and

Random Q, what would you choose between a Time machine, $70M and a soul mate and why?

art speaks unverbally to people alot with no

oh id proudly chose $70M,reason being thats what

doubt it has power in it.

im working to achieve,with a plan to spend it wisely with a better return,i take risk..a time mechine,not

Where are you located? Nairobi Railway

really coz if im going back then that means I didnt

Museum at Dust-depo artist studio.

come to terms with my past,right now whats happened I let it go,and if its to take me foward,i

What got you interested in being a tattoo artist? Tattoos have always been concidered

will not enjoy the friust of my experiece inbetween,i want to face everything in life that comes.

negative to a lot of people..so I wanted to create an aura around it where I make people express

Your favourite quote? 'love is the law' by rapper

themselves through their body artistically,tattoos

AB-SOUL

with message and concept,recreation of design

What does your normal day look like? wake

and style in art.

up,pray for hope,check on mom,check my client

What do you do outside the DRAWING world? I

bookings,workout,take breakfast,shower,leave for

play a lot of basketball,swim,and read books

work,draw or do whats to be done,get back home

too,one has to know how to connect with the rest

when everything runs well n take a nap

of the world too not just draw.

8

ART

FACEBOOK: trace tattooist INSTAGRAM: trace_tattoos Mobile: 0792144573

9

ART BY TRACE TATTOOS

10

Quickfire with our beautiful Cover feature

MS. OKINDA PASTRY CHEF, MODEL AND MUA Who are you?

My name is Mela Buoro Okinda. I am the last born of four children.

What are you currently doing?

You've been given an elephant. You can't get rid of it, What would you do with it?

I would open a Sancuatry and show people the beauty of wildlife

I am a baked good culinary expert and the originator of Atwabu treats bakery where I am additionally the CEO. I love making and enlivening cakes. You can discover me on facebook and Instagram at Atwabu Treats.

Random question, Would you rather look like a potato or feel like a potato?

How did Makeup spark your interest?

Tip of the Month

I love the way that I can make excellent appearances with changed hues and surfaces. When Nanasi Ke gave me the chance to do their makeup, I was grateful.

Enjoy life, love and don't limit your dreams.

Hahaha ! I would rather feel like a potato.

Atwabu Treats

VALENTINE'S EDITORIAL SHOOT THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF ADAM SHUTTER STYLE BY VIVIAN HASSAN CONCEPT BY MARIEJOSE WASONGA MODELS : MELA OKINDA & KAREN WANJIRU

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

KAWINT ART

My name is Winnie Wambui. I identify myself as an illustrator and character designer. For my kind of art, my most basic tools are paper and a pencil as it’s the minimal that a lot of people can identify with to bringing an idea to life. I carry the sketchbook and pencil in my bag just in case an idea strikes while I'm on the go.

I have always loved art for as long as I can remember. When I was a child I used to draw a lot on any surface that I could get, on walls using charcoal, on the ground using sticks and my arms using ballpoint pens whenever I could. Then, I didn’t know it’s the artistic spirit inside me that was trying to manifest itself. Older people who came across my drawings then used to say that I am gifted in drawing. While some encouraged me to continue doing it and drawing as much as I could this wasn’t the case with other members of our community. One incident that I can remember is back in high school when I was in form one, I once drew a tribal tattoo on one of my books and it never boiled down well with one of my teachers.

Though I was a student of art and design as I did it as one of the elective subjects, the said teacher couldn’t identify with the excuse that I got some inspiration to just draw and the immediate resource that I could get was the back cover of my English book.

Besides the information that I got from studying art and design in high school, I have also learnt a lot from online sources such as YouTube. From then on I have been practising, growing and practising persistently. I also have some ebooks that I frequently read to hone my skills. I believe I have now graduated from just being the basic graphite pencil and paper artist that I was, to learning to work with other media like charcoal, watercolours, and acrylics to bring my artistic ideas and concepts into life. I work on different types of paper such as ivory paper, cartridge paper and watercolour paper. I also paint on canvas.

To keep up with the digital era, I have progressed to working digitally using a graphics tablet and Adobe Photoshop software. With my continuous progression in learning and doing art digitally, I have positioned myself into a greater position as now I can manage to switch and work interchangeably with the different mediums as per a project requires.

19

On many occasions, a lot of people have always asked me why did I choose art and over the years my answer have always remained the same with little alliteration with regards to the subject matter. I chose to follow this path because it gives me freedom. Art gives me freedom to express my view and think out of the box, freedom to think openly and wild, freedom to exercise that part of human nature that brings fulfillment and happiness for doing something that the whole of you identifies with, freedom to tell visual stories from my perspective and above all freedom to be myself.

Over time, I have come to learn that the more I meet other artists who are motivated and are practicing their art with almost the same passion as me, the more I want to share and say how fulfilling it feels to practice and do something that the inner self has identified with. For me, storytelling has grown to be key and with every art project that I engage in, I try to have a background story that weaves its self into any visual project that I indulge in.

With a never-ending desire of wanting to succeed and conquer the world through my art, every emotion that I get from my audience is key as it’s helped me know that my audience, young or old, can relate to my artwork. With dreams of the future, I aspire to have my illustrations published in art publication. In the field of character design, I dream that one of the characters that I will have worked on in the development process will one day impact emotions to millions of audiences all over the world.

As I mature in the industry, I would like to teach and mentor younger artists and return the favor that I have gotten from other artists who have been there to channel and help me realize my ability. I believe that sharing will help me grow and develop further as a content creator. I know I have a long way to go but I am just getting started and from where I'm standing, the future looks brighter than ever.

@_kawint_

20

M A K E

U P

Find them on Instagram for more amazing products, the accounts are indicated below MODELS @JEAN_OJIRO @SIMPLYAURELIA PAGE @ZARONCOSMETICS

21

0202 BEF V A L E N T I N E ' S M O O D B O A R D

Photographer : John Ogweno

22

2 ON EUSSI

Maryb Artistry

STEPS TO ACHIEVE THE GRAPHIC LINER LOOK 1. PRIME YOUR EYELIDS. I USED A WHITE BASE SO THE PINK CAN POP. 2. APPLY A BABY PINK SHADOW ON THE LID. I PREFERRED A SHIMMER SHADOW BUT YOU CAN USE A MATTE SHADOW.

3. MIX A LOOSE SHADOW WITH A NON GREASY OIL TO GET A PASTE SIMILAR TO A LINER. I USED A NEON SHADOW AND CITY COLOR NON GREASY OIL PRIMER. 4. WITH A DEFINE BRUSH, DRAW A 3 NEAR YOUR INNER CORNER AND ON THE OUTER PART OF THE LID USING THE LIQUID LINER CREATED.

5. APPLY A LASH OF YOUR CHOICE, PREFERABLY A FLIRTY ONE.

Follow on Instagram

MUA: marybeth_13 Photographer : @kulamoto

MA'NANAS / FEB 2020 28 23

0202 BEF 24

A R T I S T R Y

3 ON EUSSI

M A R Y B

VALENTINES STYLE INSPO "A Kim Kardashian inspired style mood board for you this Valentine's season.

BY CHRISTIE OBIERO

25

26

Valentine's Style 27

ESTHER MAGDALENE AOKO Appreciating the curves females were born with.

@E.CEEMAIGE

28

FEMINIST'S ART Esther is an artist born in Kisumu City but grew up mostly in Nairobi. I, however, spent my life between the two cities. Besides coming from a family background that loved art, especially my late grandmother, I’ve always had a passion for art partly because I had a genetic endowment though I didn’t start painting until I joined Kenyatta University as a fine art student.

Somewhere along the way, I started getting more fascinated by the female body and it has a lot to do with my history growing up.

Growing up as a curvy girl among more smallbodied classmates was a challenge for me, especially when every time there was a ‘fat’ person story I was always the reference so I struggled a lot with self-esteem and my weight in general. This opinion of being ‘ugly’ according to society changed once I was almost done with high school. I started appreciating myself more and slowly started inclining towards the female body with my art. I can describe my art as being a bit of a ‘feminist’s art’ but not in a way that diminishes men, I just really appreciate women. The characters in my art, are mostly curvy women, whether extreme curvy or small curvy but just curvy all the same.

MA'NANAS/ FEB 2020

I love working with both oil paints and acrylics on canvas using both warm and cool colors. There is always a story in my paintings. So nudes and semi nudes for me go beyond just what the human eye sees. It’s not only about being aware and appreciating your body physically but also about being free and appreciative mentally, spiritually and feeling the love of oneself from your soul. It’s also a way for me to raise awareness to everyone of the female body. It goes beyond women as being sexual beings because I honestly think that the fact that our bodies can sustain and grow a fetus while it develops and changes until it’s a child and ready to come out into the world, is creation in itself and that is just remarkable for me. I mean women should be adored.

So I hope my paintings give both men and women a different insight on the body, the female body to be more precise.

What keeps me going is the passion I have always had for art and also the fact that painting is therapeutic for me. I can go for hours painting non-stop. My studio is the one place I can completely be free and be myself and my paintings help me achieve freedom; mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically in some way. Plus we all need a little fantasy to escape 29 in.

TRAVELING

SOLO

30

101

NJOKI THE NOMAD

Ndeiya, Kiambu County

31

T R A V E L

|

N J O K I

T H E

N O M A D

Get to Know Njoki I was always the kid looking outside the window, wondering and drifting about what’s beyond that golden horizon of the sunset. I wanted to see that, Still DO! These simple trips up-country with my folks when I was a kid are what sparked the Travel Nomad in me.

Once you begin to travel, you start appreciating things that you would probably not be aware of on a normal day. To travel is to live. To discover all of nature’s beauty and become aware of my existence. It opens up such new horizons and expands my mind to view life from a whole different perspective.

Start small. It does not have to be a crowd of friends, there are a lot of locations featured online by travelers.

Dare yourself to pack a bag and just use public transport to a beautiful getaway, that should help grow your confidence. We put away so many plans, vacations and travels all because a plan that started with 10 very excited people ends up with 1 or 2 committed people, you as the organizer being one of the 2. My first backpacking trip was on my birthday in 2018 to Nanyuki, as nervous as I was, it ended up being the best experience.

32

I made new friends who I ended up celebrating my birthday with. Yes, very determined me carried cake all the way to Nanyuki.

Throughout 2018 to 2019, my love for travelling kept growing with every passing weekend. I have had different experiences from a different location and with that, I could suggest some of these locations to you.

My first and favorite destination for this February would be One Stop Nanyuki & Shepherds Huts. One Stop Nanyuki has incredible memories for me as it was my first ever solo travel. From this amateur perspective, you can see how simple it is just to venture out and have fun. It’s located in a very serene environment with magnificent views and gardens. The huts are uniquely placed to ensure privacy and comfort. The property is very accessible by private and/or public means. Besides, wake up to the beauty of Mt. Kenya.

You can have a morning shower in their outdoor shower, have a cup of good coffee from their coffee bar, and YES for 0 2 that good pampering, they have a unisex, cute nature themed saloon. Later, drive up to the Mt. Kenya Wildlife Sanctuary and experience a walking tour seeing Bongos and Lamas. Short but Sweet!

T R A V E L

|

N J O K I

T H E

N O M A D

Fairview Coffee Estate

One Stop Shepherds Hut, Nanyuki

One Stop Shepherds Hut, Nanyuki

33

Njabini, Nyandarua County

For the lovers of hiking and a good picnic under the sun, there is a variety of hiking trails in and out of Nairobi which you can engage in solo, with your partner or a group of friends. I love short daily based hikes with beautiful features as a result. From areas such as Ngong hills, Kereita forest, Gatamaiyu, and the Kiambu region. I have managed to experience very unique locations with my friends over at Let's Drift who discover untapped hiking trails that lead up to hidden gems such as dams, caves, and my favorite, waterfalls! Look out for their group hikes and activities to unique areas that you can join for

Small World Country Club, Athi River Source:- Booking.com

more exciting experiences.

All about the coastal vibe BUT cannot get there? Within my top 3, I would recommend The small world country club in Athi River. Why? Because that is my destination this February! This is definitely the perfect plan for you. This resort has a unique sense of coastal theme almost making you feel like you are at the coast but in the real sense, you are just a short drive from Nairobi. It is very ideal for couples or individuals looking to get away from the busy city, relax while having a dip in the pool and soaking up the sun. Tucked kilometres away within Athi River, you will be surprised at how cozy and edgy the resort is. To have a getaway that strikes a balance between comfort and style while adding up the beach style with muted blue, sea green and sandy beige décor accents is something I would not want to miss out on.

You don’t have to splurge while exploring new places. There are so many places one can visit and activities that you can experience

Small World Country Club, Athi River Source:- Booking.com

without having to break the bank. Kenya is full of surprises and I believe it’s high time we start uncovering them for ourselves one by one.

34

OYAH

ESSENCE AND SOUL OF MY ART To inspire, to teach, to motivate, to challenge minds, to invoke thought, to pleasure, to annoy, to irritate, to mesmerize, to cause action, to give life to, to finding love and making love.-this is the essence and soul of my art.

| enizagaM sanaN 'aM fo thgirypoC .0202 yraurbeF .2 eussI

35

Ma; Nanas Magazine

36

Oyah Studio Musah Mwakelemu is an artist, painter, cartoonist, muralist and dynamic creative currently based in Mombasa, Kenya.He was born in 1984 and brought up in the island city of Mombasa, Kenya. He moved to Nairobi for his undergraduate studies where he ironically studied commerce and law and settled in Nairobi for some years where he was briefly mentored by the re-known painter and artist Patrick Mukabi before moving back to Mombasa in early 2016 to become a full-time artist.He is a self-taught contemporary artist who first started learning his craft while in primary school on available materials such as paper, cartons, boards and walls. As a university student, he began painting on t-shirts practicing his brushstrokes making art on fabric which he sold to fellow students and others as the t-shirts become popular with time. He then progressed to painting on canvas and other mediums, he is also an accomplished cartoonist, which he believes are dynamic and powerful in engaging the audience and an effective method of communication, learning and inspiration.He purposes his art to invoke thought to challenge the mind and stimulate the imagination to find new solutions to challenges of the day and to inspire positive action.He works with various media including, but not limited to; ink, Acrylics, oils, pastels, markers, spray can paints, and various recycled materials, predominantly on paper, canvas and woodApart from art, he enjoys reading, thinking, good food, seaside fun activities, road trips, nature, music, movies and spending time with his family.

"To finding love and making love. "

MA' NANAS EDITORIAL

37

About HUGs HUGs is an Organisation with the aim to reduce stigma of mental illness, increase awareness on mental health, connect people to in-person and online peer-peer support resources. Not only do we want to focus on symptom reduction but also on restoring people's developmental trajectory through workshops and community outreach programs.

In Africa mental health illnesses are attributed to either witchcraft or spiritual problems. Government statistics indicate that at least one in every four {1:4} Kenyans suffers from a mental illness at one point in their lives; this is about 11.5 million people. At Hugs we are standing together to fight the stigma, the alienation, the rejection, loneliness and the dangerous situation that many people are facing with mental health in Kenya. We are a group that came together because of how mental health has affected our friends, relatives and family directly or indirectly to fight against mental health illness in Kenya.

What we do At Hugs we hold workshops, seminars, community-based activities and awareness campaigns. We want to expand into media and digital platforms by having vidoc’s and explainer videos on mental health that form a broader aspect of our fight against mental illnesses in Kenya.

HUGs Mission, Vision and Objectives Mission Impact change to depressed adolescent and youths from uncertain conditions to certain conditions Vision Strengthen bonds between the youths by fostering economic independence and positivity in their life span.

HUGs Objectives *Increase knowledge about mental health *Help reduce stigma of mental illness in adolescents and young adults *Connect young people to in-person and online peer-peer support resources * Not only do we want to focus on symptom reduction but also on restoring the young person's developmental trajectory About Founder HUGs was founded by Nassim Nkatha. She is a certified psychologist and a member of Kenya Counselling and Psychological Association (KCPA). She has worked at Mathari Teaching and Referral Hospital, she interacted with people tackling mental health illnesses and understands their challenges and problems. Her passion is purpose on healing and restoring people who have been through stressful and traumatic experiences.

Event Overview The Mental Health Awareness in The Wild is a Creative and Expression event that will be held at Central park. During this event people will be able to have informal conversations and interact on social aspects of the society. The event is an opportunity for individuals to connect with people they would not normally have the occasion to speak to within the community, to better understand the life experiences of others and to challenge their own assumptions, prejudices and stereotypes.

The HUGS event will attract volunteers who have self-identified based on their race, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, economic status, ability/disability, or by a life experience (mental health). It is important that creative and expression be individuals who can communicate clearly and feel comfortable sharing their experiences with strangers.

This event can help to increase the visibility of the HUGS, strengthen partnerships with other organizations in the community, and help the people undergoing mental health issues as well as addressing diverse issues.

It is a creative and expression Event: Theme of the event is Poetry, Yoga and Mental Health Awareness, we'll be creating a platform for talent and still catering to major social issues, on 15th February, 2020 great way to spread the love to those who might feel otherwise during valentines’ day.

Activities during the Event: *Yoga *Team building activities *Poetry *Blood donations *Art exhibitions

IG. hugs.co.me Fb.hugs.co.ke YouTube. Hugs organisation

38

39

@nanasi_ke Nanasi Kenya