GRAFFITI AND DANCE - BGIRL NIKITA

Today I want to tell a story of a great soul, a story of one great mover and how else to start this than with her name. Usually that’s how I would do it but I am obliged to start with how we met. I met Nicole Nzoka Kasule aka B-girl Nikita on Facebook. I don’t remember who sent the request on facebook (probably because I was the one who sent the request )

SMILE BECAUSE NICOLE NZOKA KASULE IS HERE

As a matter of fact we chatted for a while and I came to learn of her keen interest in dance and as the conversation moved from knowing one another to sharing our passion for dance I realized she was different. She had this creative feel to how she spoke, how she tends to draw and reflect. I saw here dance at Breaksession and I was touched, moved is the word because she never spoke by her movement, she drew images of a familiar language. She spoke louder in images she drew by her movement and that’s why I had to ask her what dance means to her and she hastily said,

“Dance is my Passion, when I dance I speak my mood, It completes me”

And so my curiosity drove me to want to learn more of her movement because it told of a bigger story. The ability to combine two or more art forms to tell a single story is a trade less have mastered but she has impeccable skills in working and letting her mind access her other skills as I came to learn. She was passionate about graffiti and once I while chatting with her she told me that,

“Graffiti....”  Her eyes brightened like a constellation of stars, ”wow its beautiful to me and as much as people want to label it illegal, it has a message that is greater than whether it is legal or not. Graffiti is my lifestyle I see graffiti in every aspect of life plus it is also one of the four elements of hip hop so I connect with it”

NICOLE AT WORK AT JKIA

Her words are like music to my ears and as I contemplate on them I can’t help but smile when I remember her performing at The Quest (singing) and my first thought was : what a blessing. She is wonderful and her humility is overwhelming. I hear she is in a graffiti competition and I had to know what it was all about.

SO TELL ME ABOUT THIS GRAFFITI COMPETITION I HEAR YOU IN: okay, well the competition was done at JKIA (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport) between 16^th and 18^th  February 2013. There were about 8 local graffiti artist and it was sponsored by Dura coat.It was to allow local artists to talk about Kenya and what they would like for it in the years to come.

HOW DID YOU GET IN: I was there working as an assistant for a lead artist called Esen and  was actually the only chiq (female) participating in the competition. :)

SAMMY ESEN AND BGIRL NIKITA AT NAIROBI RAILWAY STATION

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE ONLY FEMALE: wow it was awesomely fun for me and of course one of the best experiences for me as an upcoming female graffiti artist right after the kibera peace train we did earlier on this month.

NICOLE AT JKIA'S SPRAY FOR CHANGE COMPETITION

SAMMY ESEN AT WORK AT JKIA

HOW CAN WE VOTE FOR YOU : well actually I was working with a lead artist Esen so voting is being done on his page. It is online voting and the link is sprayforchange.com/essen/ and it is really easy to vote

PROGRESSION, DONE BY SAMMY ESEN, ASSISTED BY NICOLE

 

WHAT IS PROGRESSION: The piece was to show how Kenya has evolved from the past days where there were lions and zebras...basically wild and then we started simple civilization of huts moving to complex buildings, pipelines, oil tanks to now the city and finally maybe we'll be flying to space soon...so it’s how Kenya has progressed over the years and is still progressing.

Vote and support one of our own at http://sprayforchange.com/esen/