Art, Archives & Cultural Documentation

Diani Beach Art Gallery

Curation · Gallery Management · Visual Arts

As manager and curator at Diani Beach Art Gallery, I worked at the intersection of visual art, cultural presentation, artist support, and gallery operations.

My role included coordinating exhibitions, working with artists and collectors, managing client relationships, overseeing art handling and shipping, and supporting the day-to-day running of the gallery. The gallery featured work by artists from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia, and other parts of the region.

This experience strengthened my understanding of how creative work is presented, interpreted, valued, and connected to audiences. It also continues to shape my wider interest in museums, archives, cultural memory, and public-facing cultural spaces.

In 2019, i participated in archival and audiovisual documentation activities during the Mekatilili Festival in Shakahola, working alongside MADCA and Mau Mau elders. The gathering created an important space for intergenerational dialogue, oral history preservation, and reflection on anti-colonial resistance and indigenous knowledge systems. Through documentation and field recording, the work contributed to preserving voices, memories, and narratives that are often excluded from dominant historical archives.

My expanding involvement in film and production work also includes serving as a camera assistant during Memorial University’s Good as a Concert project in 2025. The experience further strengthened my interdisciplinary approach to visual storytelling, collaborative production, and live event documentation, reflecting an ongoing commitment to technical and creative growth within audio-visual practice.

In 2024, i also engaged with Nairobi’s vibrant vinyl and listening culture during a visit with Vinyl Guru, exploring the enduring relationship between analog sound, music preservation, and collective listening traditions. Such encounters continue to inform her appreciation for archives not only as institutional spaces, but as living cultural ecosystems sustained by communities, collectors, artists, and everyday listeners.

Through these varied engagements, my work consistently bridges artistic experimentation with historical consciousness. Whether documenting elders, supporting film productions, or engaging with contemporary sound cultures, her practice remains grounded in listening, collaboration, and the preservation of cultural memory through audiovisual media.