- From that pivotal dhow ride with her father from Somalia to Kenya in the late 50s, Yony’s heart opened to Kenya, its neighbours and its people.
- She was a proud Kenyan whose generosity towards other artists helped them get established.
Image: TWITTER
How does one compress nine decades on this Earth where Yony Waite lived to the max?
Born in Hollywood 89 years ago, Yony came into the world with a creative spark that developed into a fiery passion for all forms of art — drawing, painting (she switched to acrylics early on due to the toxic nature of oils), sumi-e ink and brushwork learned in Japan from her Japanese mentor; welding, designing Kisii stone friezes that are now in Nairobi Serena’s Mandhari Restaurant, and the unforgettable wall paintings in Amboseli Serena Lodge.
Her work can also be found in other Serena lodges from Uganda to the Coast – plus the New Stanley and the Norfolk hotels. These were instantly recognisable, spanning mosaics, metalwork, paintings, murals and more. Her work, strong and evocative, infused with her love of Kenya, its animals, its landscape and its people, hangs in many homes in Kenya and throughout the world.
The Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC has an iconic wall hanging from the Mkonokono era. Never one for long and tedious (to her) market research, she and I had a concept that almost the next day saw us at the Athi River market calling for women to come stitch on hessian that Yony had painted on.
That show sold out at Gallery Watatu. We brought the women to see their work on the gallery walls. They were amazed to see art on material traditionally used for potatoes and other vegetal products. Other works are in the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation, both supporters of her community artwork.
For the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, Yony conceived a Story Snake funded by the Rockefeller Foundation that utilised the handwork and imagination of Lamu women who were asked to depict what they would miss most in the world if it were gone forever. Around 100 Lamu islanders worked on black cloth that symbolised the head-to-toe purdah traditionally worn by women. That “snake” was carried by women in Rio, Tokyo, California and, of course, Kenya.
Yony studied under Diebenkorn at the University of California, Berkeley, who inspired her with his approach to light. Then to Japan where she studied Sumi-e with her Japanese mentor. The art of the brushstroke with Japanese brushes became one of her trademarks, along with her love of black ink. Recently, Yony returned to Sumi-e after several visits to Japan, working with a Japanese painter.
No project held her back. She was ready for any challenge whether a life-size elephant balloon (never managed to get off the ground but did make the news), a huge welded metal Buffalo and other monumental works.
And not least, Yony was intrigued with building, whether at her home in Athi or in Lamu. Her father was an inventive engineer and Yony absorbed his use of natural materials and large-scale installations.
From that pivotal dhow ride with her father from Somalia to Kenya in the late 50s, Yony’s heart opened to Kenya, its neighbours and its people. She was a proud Kenyan whose generosity towards other artists helped them get established. She showed their work in her Gallery Watatu, which she opened in the 60s, and conducted innovative printmaking workshops in Lamu and Athi to present.
The day before she was admitted to The Nairobi Hospital with recalcitrant pneumonia, she called me, excited, to say she had painted for two hours. Had she survived, she and I had plans to travel to Japan again in April, cherry blossom time.
Traditionally, the cherry blossom, known as Sakura in Japan, has symbolised a time of renewal. As the flower of spring, it represents the fleeting nature of life and the botanical embodiment of the idea that every dawn is a new day. Sakura may be impermanent, but Yony’s art lives on to greet each new day.