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Sculptor Ready to Let 'Ibis' Fly Off for Sh2.5 Million
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- Published on Thursday, 22 May 2008 16:57
The price tag on Ong'esa's own version of Ibis is Sh 2.5 million and comes with a condition: the buyer must keep it within the reach of Kenyans. And that is with a reason. "The piece has a historical significance to this country. I would want it to be somewhere Kenyans can have an opportunity to see it," says Ong'esa.
When European settlers arrived in Kisii town early in the last century, one of the things they did was to mark their acquired territory. They planted several eucalyptus trees in the area. Just like the planters, these trees were different from the indigenous species that covered the area. In the 70s when Kenya was already celebrating its first decade of independence, most of those trees had overgrown and had to be cleared. One of the trees is what Ong'esa used to create the Ibis piece .
He sculptured it in the early 80s, but has since held on to the piece. He now wants it to fly from his hands. Ong'esa is one of Kenya's celebrated sculptors and one of his works, Enyamuchera, graces the Unesco headquarters in Paris. Created some 30 years ago, it is a wishful piece celebrating the elusive world peace. "The bird has a central place in my heart," says Ong'esa. When he was growing up in Kisii, herding was one of the chores he performed. While in the bush, one of the games he played was trapping birds.
In adulthood, he saw a need to free the birds he used to capture when young and he now does this through his artwork. Away from the ongoing exhibition, the artist who received a Head of State commendation medal in 2004 has several sculptures outside Africa. But none of his major works are exhibited anywhere in Africa.
Ironically, the man who chiselled the simple soapstone/ granite sculpture commissioned by the then Unesco director- general is yet to receive his pay cheque, three decades later. It is a story he loves to tell. On a visit to Kenya in 1976, the Unesco boss had a chance to see the late Joseph Murumbi's collection. He was smitten by one piece sculptured by Ong'esa and was about to issue a cheque for the work when Government officials informed him that it was one of the pieces documented by the ministry of national heritage as State property.
The director general then invited Ong'esa for coffee where Enyamuchera was commissioned. "I feel strongly that the Government has been unfair to me on this particular issue," says Ong'esa on Enyamuchera.When Enyamuchera was handed to Unesco, the government promised to pay off the artist and offer the piece as a gift to the international organisation, which pushes the world's cultural and art agenda.
But since 1978, the pay cheque has not been signed. Ong'esa says the seven tonne Enyamuchera was valued at Sh 3.5 million in October, 1978. "Today, I would have to sit down, look at the rate of inflation over the years before putting a price tag on it." As you enter the Coca-Cola Olympics museum in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the things that may not easily escape your eye are cheerful people dancing around a bottle of Coca-Cola.
The impressive piece aptly titled The Bottle Dance was carved by Ong'era on commission after competitive bidding because Coca- Cola wanted the best piece of art as part of the 1996 Olympics Games held in Atlanta. Then there is Blessings 2 in New York and even In Search Of Water, which stands at the Caltex Oil company headquarters in Texas. Sculptured in 1984 when Kenya was experiencing a drought, the piece also touches on an issue that the world is debating today more than ever.
Somewhere in China is Her Mother, a bronze sculpture by the publicity shy Kenyan sculptor. It is at the Chang Chun World Sculpture Park in Jilin province, North East China. Ong'esa, who is credited with the growth of the Kisii soapstone industry, is working on a four- tonne sculpture in honour of the late Murumbi, who was Kenya's first vice president. An art collector who has continued to win admiration several years after his death, Murumbi launched Ong'esa's art career at the international level. As a post-graduate student in Canada,Ong'esa learned elaborate marketing of traditional stone carving by the Inuit people of Canada.
Through a cultural exchange programme, the Kisii soapstone carvers formed co-operative societies, something that has given them a say on their products in the international market- just like the Inuits. Ong'esa holds a masters degree in education from McGill University and a first class diploma in fine arts from Makerere University. He is currently a freelance artist in Kenya specialising in sculptures and paintings.
He was a senior lecturer and head of creative arts at Kisii teachers college and lecturer at the University of Eastern Africa Baraton. He sculptured Her Mother a bronze sculpture that stands in China in 2006. He created Enyamuchera, Bird Peace, for UNESCO in 1978. He values this piece at Sh 3.5 million in 1978.
Since last August, Ongesa has been working on peace Bird 2 that, the first of his major works to be on display in Africa. This is in honour of Joseph Murumbi the late vice-president who launched him into to the international art market. Peace 2 will be inaugurated I September.
