00:05think graffiti is just paint on walls think again in kenya it's loud bold and it means something
00:12more let's check it out coming in at number three the graffiti girls and all female crew using
00:19street art to speak up stand out and own the streets for us as graffiti girls painting gives
00:27us a voice and who better to paint issues that affect women than women themselves than girls
00:33themselves this isn't just graffiti it's showing what's really happening in these communities
00:39things that we like to address are things like social justice voicing out issues of again gender
00:47based violence because it still exists and as women we go through it a lot and as women we we
00:52love to
00:53have the pleasure of painting about it but what sparked the graffiti girls why there was a need
00:59to form graffiti girls we were all male writers graffiti artists and then there were too many
01:05issues uh socially affecting women in kenya young women artists can come like a safe space to my
01:13classes and i could teach both uh graffiti art how to to use spray paint the medium of spray paint
01:20as a
01:21tool to paint the graffiti girl stories and voices are hitting the streets hard the message that we want to
01:30put out is empowerment especially in communities where that doesn't really exist
01:40from painting the streets to driving the culture because in nairobi even the buses are a canvas
01:47and at number two it's matatus the feeling is so thrilling as in as compared to other types of
01:59matatus when you board a matatu which has a lot of graffiti and the crew is fun and the music
02:05is loud
02:05and considering i'm a young person that's what we young people like matatus are easily the coolest ride
02:13on the streets and this is a brian manyama aka graf he's putting the spotlight on the world of matatus
02:23through showcasing the matatus i feel like it's a really good way of being an ambassador of kenya
02:30because first of all you get to showcase uh the art you get showcase even the lifestyle behind it and
02:38this
02:38brings fulfillment to me graf's also an award-winning creative he works with teams to turn these rides
02:46into rolling artworks in terms of collaborations we usually work with the graffiti artists and also
02:53graphic designers in terms of developing concepts within the creative arts industry graffiti really
02:59plays a big role because it's the first thing you'll get to see when a matatu approaches you or when
03:05you
03:05see a video or even a picture of a matatu the matatu industry solidifies kenya's identity by the art that
03:14we showcase it's something that is unique not just in africa but throughout the world and it also provides
03:22a very huge market for youth employment and at number one a name you can't ignore the godfather of
03:33graffiti in nairobi bank slave i use it as a voice i use it as a tool just to communicate
03:41or just to
03:42bring a dialogue to the world or anyone else who wants to view this piece of work and probably get
03:50inspiration out of it so it's important for me because i can inspire people with it and he totally
03:59slaps a master of graffiti but his journey must have started somewhere i studied fine arts for my
04:08three years there we used to go out and do graffiti gigs and this was more impactful because it's in
04:16the
04:16streets and there's more audience than when you have it in a gallery where the audience might be
04:22not as much as it is in the streets bank slaves work isn't just striking it also carries meaning from
04:32murals of presidents to athletes and powerful tributes in moments of tragedy like after the horrific
04:39terrorist attack on this mall in kenya when he painted a living piece of artwork around a drain pipe
04:54the work is gone now street art isn't made to last but that's a part of the story for an
05:02artist
05:03where when you're painting on a wall you don't have the expectation that this piece will stay a long time
05:10because most of them are not your walls so we just come onto this wall and just put our magic
05:19there
05:20in kenya street art is more than just art it lives breathes and demands attention
05:26that's what we at afrimax call seriously cool
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