Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga

Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga studied art at the University of Nairobi and continued her studies at the University of California Los Angeles. She spent her early childhood in Kenya but now lives and works in San Antonio, Texas.

Gakunga is known for her contemporary wall-hanging sculptures made of steel wire, tin cans and oxidised sheet metal. She oxidises her materials by saturating rolls of sheet metal in water, sometimes adding dye for colour. Fibre, string, ribbons and fine grade metal are the primary materials in her work. She has exhibited in the USA, UK, France, Brazil and Poland. Her UK debut solo exhibition ‘Ituῖka – Transformation’ was presented at October Gallery, London in 2013 and she will be showing at the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, October 2014.