The AnkhLave International Artist Exchange: Kenya Edition is about building bridges through art, honoring ancestry, fostering dialogue, and celebrating the living connections between African and African American communities.

I first met the Indigenous Kenyan artists, Kukuyi artist: Wanjiku Nderitu and Luo artist: Linda Daisy during my residency at Tafaria Castle & Center for the Arts in Nyeri, Kenya, in 2023. Their work, rooted in ancestral memory, community, and spiritual traditions, left a profound impression on me. Inspired by these encounters, I returned to Kenya in 2025 to present “Echoes of Home”, a groundbreaking exhibition featuring 32 African American artists who had never exhibited on the African continent. This exchange sparked meaningful dialogue and created connections between artists across continents.

In 2026, this project comes full circle as our Kenyan artists travel to New York City to share their vibrant voices with a wider audience. They will create large-scale vinyl murals installed on the fencing of Old Stone House Brooklyn in Washington Park, bringing Indigenous Kenyan visual traditions into the public sphere in NYC.

Funds from this campaign will support mural production and installation, as well as airfare, accommodations, and meals for the visiting Kenyan artists during their weeklong stay. The murals will be complemented by a gallery exhibition of the Echoes of Home artists (from the U.S.) and will feature a panel discussion where Kenyan and African American artists reflect on heritage, diaspora, and the shared global Black experience. Additionally, funding will go toward a catalogue we are producing to commemorate this milestone in the participating artist's career!

By supporting this campaign, you help make visible the stories, traditions, and creativity of artists whose work strengthens cultural exchange and enriches our shared understanding of home and identity.