Notes

Cyrus Kabiru is a self-taught artist who grew up in Kibera, a slum in Nairobi, Kenya. He started making his roughhewn sculptural glasses, called C-Stunners, at a young age. Prompted by his father, who wore glasses and had to repair them himself, Kabiru initially made his sculptures for pleasure. Later, at school, he realised they could be bartered for homework. The material for his work is retrieved from Dandora, a sprawling dumpsite east of Nairobi that is home to many scrap foragers. Kabiru’s practice, which encompasses sculpture and photography, is essentially transformative. “I give the trash a second chance,” he is frequently quoted, alongside: “We need to move from selling poverty to selling creativity.”¹ As with the masks of Beninese artist Romuald Hazoumè, who also works with the detritus of the African city, Kabiru’s glasses are disquisitions on pleasure and creativity. When worn, notably by Kabiru for his photographic portraits, they confuse seeing and being seen, object and performance. “When I make these glasses I am Cyrus, the artist, but when I wear them I am a different person,” stated Kabiru.²

1. Sean O’Toole, ‘International Style’, frieze, Issue 171, May 2015, page 31

2. Cyrus Kabiru, quoted at www.smacgallery.com, 2015, https://smacgallery.com/exhibition/cyrus-kabiru-c-stunners-black-mamba-29-01-15-14-03-15/

Exhibited

The Armory Show, New York, 2017.