My artistic expression is guided by my everlasting question of “Where Is Home?”. My background spans three countries (Germany, Kenya, USA) across three continents. My life has fundamentally been guided by the feelings of belonging and othering in the context of my Blackness in these places. I am channeling these unique insights in my portrait paintings, as I depict Kenyan people through a diasporic lens in order to (re-)connect the two.

My current series highlights the emotional bonds between people and the layered emotional expressions tied to those relationships. The choice of monochromatic colors in the portraits is deliberate to strip away context and preconceived notions of African people. I aim to universalize the subjects’ lived experience, and make it relatable across cultural and geographic borders. I want to look past our differences and focus on the inherent sameness of our human experience, as I expand my own understanding of belonging.

www.kipkemoiart.com

@Kipkemoiart