This archive report was first published on 23 December 2019.
At the Creativity Gallery of the Nairobi National Museum, a refreshing display of three-dimensional art stands out amidst the dominance of two-dimensional art work. This is Leo Coimbra's exhibition and installation, In Vitro, a showcase of her recent and older works.
Coimbra's installations feature dozens of recycled glass bottles filled with fragments collected over the years. The bottles are filled with stones, coloured beads, coral, and twigs, accompanied by small toys, figurines, Disney characters, a looking glass, and other curiosities.
One of the installations features colourful plastic ropes collected from Kenyan beaches, while others have paper cut-outs around themes such as famous artists, parts of the human body, or miniatures of Coimbra's previous paintings.
Coimbra's diverse life, reflected in mementos from different countries, is also on display. Her mixed media paintings, including the Prayer Flags series inspired by the Tibetan tradition of colourful cloths inscribed with prayers, and the Box Series suggesting staged scenes or frozen moments in time, hang on the walls.
One of the notable pieces is a blue box called Our Lady of the End of the World, which resembles a Catholic devotional shrine but with a Chinese statue and plastic locusts. Coimbra also created the Healing Series of canvas-covered wood paintings as a therapeutic art tribute for a sick friend.
Coimbra, who is currently resident in Kenya, comes from a mixed lineage of Portuguese, German, and African ancestry and has lived in many countries. She took up art in the 1990s and is entirely self-taught, an impressive feat considering the quality and diversity of her work.
In Vitro continues until the end of December at the Creativity Gallery of the Nairobi National Museum.
