Annabel Wanjiku

Wanjiku was one of Ruth Schaffner’s most celebrated Gallery Watatu artists. She was initially discovered as part of the Ngecha Village arts co-operative and was mentored by Schaffner who considered her one of the most interesting female artists of her generation in Kenya.

Her homegrown, impasto technique of laying paint on canvas, involves mixing and creating her own paints using clay and natural pigments alongside traditional artist paint from her home in Nyeri. Her work has featured in group and solo exhibitions since 1988 in Kenya, Uganda, Germany and Japan. Wanjiku remains one of Nairobi’s legends from the post-independence era.