[Nairobi] Here in Kenya for an extended visit with my day job. Not a likely place, perhaps, to dive into contemporary art, but surprisingly, found some awesome stuff in a small informal collective of self-taught artists in Nairobi’s notorious Kibera slum. I was lucky enough to make friends with a Reuters photographer who took me on an intense, up-close-and-personal-and-inside tour of the place. Within 15 minutes, I felt like I was in Bartertown (from “Mad Max”) – but a colorful, awesome version. Yes, hardship exists, but glorious street graffiti lit the place up, and even the rubble from January’s violence had been festooned with pro-peace messages. I about fainted when quickly thereafter, I met the Banksy of the slums, who led a collective of artists working out of a 2-story shack.

I’ll be showing/selling a sampling of the work (think outsider/folk/self-taught/street) at my June 13 gallery opening in Chicago, “Hope in a Hard Place. Any proceeds from the show will go back to art programs for the kids in Kibera, which I’m really excited about. The kids here have nothing; to escape the place is to face impossible odds. I made several trips into Kibera and am so excited about showing my photos, along with the work of its artists, at my first show.

A few weeks later, I stumbled upon a fantastic photo exhibit at the Godown Arts Centre called “Kenya Burning.” While my show in June will highlight some of the hidden beauty of the country and its people, this exhibit deftly gathered many of the powerful news images captured during the sad and horrific post-election violence of January of this year, all in one powerful fell swoop that I had not anticipated. I had seen a few random photos here and there, online, and also reviewed some of the images published by my client, The Standard. But here, the work of Standard photographers and others was gathered in an extremely powerful narrative, showing the barbarism, the suffering, the hope of recovery. Huge bonus that I got to see it on the last day. In particular, the work of Standard photographer Boniface Mwangi and Yasuyoshi Chiba stood out as especially powerful. (Read a short story from last week’s Economist about the exhibit and its impact.)

Also at the Godown, chatted with and viewed the art of about a dozen local artists (painters and sculptors) who are working in a buzz-worthy collective that I’m eager to return to later in the year, possibly to bring back and share with Chicago. Watch this blog and the mother site later in the year, I hope, for more exciting stuff from Kenya.

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[Dubai, UAE] How to do Dubai in 24 hours? Simple. Have a grant, centrally located hotel as your base. Hire a taxi for a few quick spins around the new Burj Dubai for photo ops, and a trip to the old creek area and souks. Finally, get really f***in’ lucky by hopping right across the street from the hotel for the fabulous exhibit, “Word Into Art.”

Sponsored/curated by the British Museum (and based on an earlier original exhibition presented in London), this show was oddly held on the vacant floor of an office building (versus traditional gallery or museum space – welcome to Dubai’s new vision for art!). This truly special collection illuminated the beauty of Arabic lettering in every possible medium. Just stunning. Check out highlights here, or click my photo of exhibition signage above (gorgeous displays and clear explanations of the work throughout, more samples at my Flickr gallery – totally compensated for the office building aesthetic). Below is a closeup of “The Religion of Love” 2003, Hassan Massoudy.

From there, I headed just across the office building concourse to view selections from the JP Morgan Collection of contemporary and modern art. I was just about the sole viewer of each show, which made me feel like art-fan royalty, and made the 24-hour detour through Dubai well worth it. (Was lucky enough to crash with a close friend at the always-luxurious and dripping-with-marble Emirates Towers, an old favorite from my previous visits while consulting with Gulf News. You can check out the rest of my collection of Dubai photos here. I think I somehow took three weeks of photos in 24 hours; a favorite stop, oddly, was my final trip through the airport, where I tricked an angry German nun, a couple of fat and happy Arabs and a few others into wishing my mom a happy 70th birthday.)

This was my sixth visit to UAE but, because I was unencumbered by my day job, it was the first foray here that really allowed me to check out the exploding contemporary art scene, and to explore the place photographically. Missed Art Dubai festival by one week (damn!) but this was a great consolation prize. From here, on to Nairobi ….