Mary Ogembo

Biography

Mary Ogembo is a Kenyan visual artist. After receiving a Diploma in Fine art from Creative Art Centre in Nairobi, she joined Kuona Trust Museum Art Studio in 1998. Mary has worked with International artists from other parts of Africa and Europe. During her cultural exchange visit to France, she worked extensively with French artists.

Mary, who is also a sculptor, is currently concentrating on painting and focusing on her theme of African women - their beauty and duties. She has participated in a number of exhibitions in and out of Kenya and her works have been exhibited in Nairobi, France, Germany and Zimbabwe.

Mary is one of the eleven 2005 Commonwealth Art and Craft Award winners and will be going to Ghana in early 2006 for a six month award exchange. In her career as an artist she hopes to vividly convey various images of African woman through art.

Artist's Statement

Art is for me a special way of communicating one’s ideas to the human race on a very personal perspective using different media. My most precious time is that time when I’m all alone in my studio painting and having this feeling of carrying out a unique dialogue with the painting.

I enjoy painting portraits of women at work. This is for me a combination of beauty and duty. I also highlight women’s breast in my paintings, for me they are the emblem of womanhood.

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