Page 47 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 3

ISSUE THREE | NOV/DEC

artsy belabela

KENYAN ARTIST/PHOTOGRAPHER

“This is bigger than me! This is God.”

“Hello, I’m Bella!” Said the Commerce degree, but her heart balance between her growing
confident, petite artist, as she just wasn’t in it, so she dropped out. family and finding time to create.
stretched out her hand to greet She would have loved to go and She said to us, “Every time I have
us with a warm, friendly smile on study art at one of the universities, a child, I shut down. I like to give
her face. This was our first face-to- but her vision and that of her each child about a year of my time.
face meeting with Rosebell Owiti, parents just didn’t link up. Bella So my art goes on pause.”
better known as Bella or Artsy is currently pursuing a Bachelor
BelaBela, she hosted us at her of Business Administration, and Art Business
studio in Bamburi. After hearing though she has deferred it for one Bella started out in artistic business
about her from Esther Kimemia semester, she plans to someday first as an interior designer,
(see Faith Stories in our last issue) complete it; and In case you’re transforming spaces by creating
and tracking her online, I must say, wondering, it’s not for lack of unique touches, using one-of-a-
the experience of meeting her did academic brilliance, Bella is a kind pieces like customized pottery,
not disappoint, she is exactly the brilliant student, it’s just that her coffee tables up cycled from tires,
same online as she is in person. passion is for Art and nothing else which she collected from when she
The lively 34 year old shares her fills that spot in her heart. used to run a carwash. She did
story and perspective with an At the age of 22, BelaBela’s desire interior décor for a while, before
enthusiasm that uplifts. to explore her creative side led adding art to her complement of
her to an artistic hub in Kisumu. creative expression. But she didn’t
Bella has loved everything art since A lady in Kisumu, Eunice Ogot, stop there, like we mentioned
she was a child, even though she herself desiring to explore her earlier, Bella loves all things art,
didn’t always have access to it as creative side, had set up this place so she studied photography at
freely as she would have wanted, where artists could come and the ‘University of YouTube’, and
outside of the bits and pieces that develop their skill, sell their art and practiced the various aspects on
a public education provides. So, grow. It was here, in this creative her children. As she wisely says,
when she was in high school, she atmosphere that she began to “Whatever you want you can learn,
watched with great anticipation hone her craft. Surrounded by as long as you want it so bad.” In
the progress of completion of the fellow artists Bella joyfully created time she built up her photography
Buruburu Institute of Fine Arts beautiful art, adorning the fine practice to the point where it would
(BIFA), envisioning a future after pottery sourced from Kakamega, generate some much needed
school where she would be able here she learnt the finer details of revenue.
to delve deeper into her beloved how to make jewelry, was exposed
world. She even managed to to painting and other forms of art. Time moved along, as it does, and
secure an acceptance letter to No one withheld from the other in early 2017, their third child, a
BIFA while in her final year, but her ideas or information or instruction. beautiful little girl, was born. Then
parents’ response? “No, no, no, She was part of a collective of came 2018, the year that Bella
no, Bella. This is just a Diploma!” artists who were all looking for a describes as one of those when
Her well-meaning parents wanted place to express their creativity and your world turns upside down. One
their beloved firstborn to pursue they shared freely. This was later day, her sweet little baby who was
something more solid and to become part of the inspiration now learning how to walk, suffered
predictable like medicine or law. behind her own plans to set up a a burn accident. At the same time
creative space for artists. her mother suffered a diabetic foot
Bella was disappointed, but what Some years later, she and her ulcer and was hospitalized. Bella
could she do? So, she first tried husband Tom Ojwang, moved found herself in Nairobi, sleeping
a degree in Linguistics, which to Mombasa. An opportunity for in the hospital beside her baby,
she quit in her second year, later work had opened up for him there, while her mother was in the ICU
she commenced a Bachelor of and Bella began to find ways to at the same time. Talking about

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