Ngugi Waweru, one of the artists of Wajukuu Art Project collective, in his atelier in Lunga Lunga, works on an artwork made on paper using colored chalk. Many of his paintings are instead made using oil colors or mixed techniques that often make use of recycled materials also.

The pavilion of the” Documenta Fifteen” contemporary art festival in Kassel, Germany, set up by the Wajukuu Art Project collective, based in Lunga Lunga, Nairobi.

On the window of the atelier of Ngugi Waweru and Kimathi Kaaria, two of the members of the Wajukuu collective, brushes and rollers used by the artists dry, in the background the sheet metal houses of the Lunga Lunga slum. The work of the artistic collective has prompted many young people to start working on art projects within the community, projects that have culminated, for several years, with the organization of the Wajukuu Slum Art Festival, where the works of visual artists are exhibited, concerts are held and installations are created that will find their place in the streets of the slum.

Ngugi Waweru, Kimathi Kaaria and Lazarus Tumbuti, some of the members of the collective, work on the sketches for the realization of the installations that were exhibited in the slum during the Wajukuu Slum Art Festival, which took place in Lunga Lunga in December 2021.

The Lunga Lunga slum, in Nairobi, is inhabited by over 80,000 people. Most of its population has a daily per capita income that does not exceed a dollar. There is no sewage and public drinking water distribution system, nor a state-run hospital.

Shabu Mwangi during the making of one of his works in his studio at Lunga Lunga.

For some of his works, Ngugi Waweru uses tools, burins, halfway between a thin chisel and an awl, with a steel tip. With them the artist engraves and excavates the material of the support on which the work itself was created.

Some of the activities of the “Wajukuu Kids Club” focus on play and dance.

The artists of the Wajuku collective make many of their works using recycled materials, such as these metal bracelets, which are generally collected in the streets and landfills of the city.

Charles Muthumbi Githinji (edge_upendoKe) and Paul Irungu (Kach Kach), performers of the rap group Majeshi Mosteducated, on stage in Kassel, Germany, during the “Documenta Fifteen” contemporary art festival (18 June 2022).

The Lunga Lunga slum is crossed by the Ngong River, heavily polluted by the sewage from the nearby industrial area of Nairobi and by sewage from homes.

A group of children learn to draw in the “Wajukuu Kids Club,” an art school created by the artist collective that lives and works in Lunga Lunga.

One of the preparatory sketches for the installation of the sculptures of domestic and wild animals, made by Ngugi Waweru. The works were created to be exhibited inside the slum during the Wajukuu Slum Art Festival, in December 2021.

Kimathi Kaaria, visual artist of the Wajukuu Art Project, with one of her works. The collective participated in the international festival of contemporary art “Documenta Fifteen”, which took place in the summer of 2022 in Kessel, Germany. For the festival, together with Lazarus Tumbuti, he created an installation called "The Tunnel." Visually inspired by the home of the African Masai ethnic group, inside it reproduces the voices and sounds of the slum of Nairobi Lunga Lunga, where the artists live.

In the slum of Lunga Lunga, during the rainy season, the streets are invaded by mud and sewage. None of the houses have running water and, in most cases, there is no electricity.

Within the “Wajukuu Kids Club” a music school with teachers from outside the collective trains very young percussionists.

Palettes and brushes used by the artists of the Wajukuu collective to create some of their works on canvas, paper and aluminum sheet.

Fletcher Njeri, 37, one of the two female artists who are part of the Wajukuu collective. His activity as an artist began in 2008, attending the children’s art school run by Shabu Mwangi. She is a painter who creates her works with oil and acrylic colors on canvas or with woodblock prints. Tajukuu Slum Art Festival, which took place in Lunga Lunga in December 2021.oday she in turn has become an art teacher to children of the slum as part of the “Wajukuu Kids Club” project. She has participated in many group exhibitions, which took placein Nairobi and two of her works were exhibited during the ukuu Slum Art Festival.

Shabu Mwangi draws a buffalo’s head on the shed floor which is used by the collective as a base of operations and rehearsal room for the musicians. The design was used for the construction of one of the installations made of metal rod that the group exhibited during the Wajukuu Slum Art Festival, in December 2021.

Paul Irungu (Kach Kach) and Charles Muthumbi Githinji (edge_upendoKe), two performers from the rap group Majeshi Mosteducated. The group is part of the Wajukuu Art Project collective.

For the children participating in the “Wajukuu Kids Club” in Lunga Lunga, women from the neighborhood who collaborate with the Wajukuu collective prepare a lunch.

Kimathi Kaaria, visual artist of the Lunga Lunga collective is one of the teachers of the “Wajukuu Kids Club.”