Musa Omusi

Musa is a multidisciplinary artist from Nairobi.  He has worked as an illustrator, animator, designer, graphic designer, and curator in physical and digital spaces.  He has been blessed to work with a number of amazing artists and institutions around the world including Goethe Institut, Alliance Francaise, Google, Peperuka and others.

His illustrations and short animations can be found across digital platforms and his fashion designs can be seen on fellow Kenyans and others home and abroad.  You can even find a mural he art directed in Nairobi’s city centre.

Musa is the founder and principal artist of the Made with Love studio in Nairobi, Kenya.  His work is inspired by the world around him, the colors, patterns and shapes.  Always excited to learn new ways of expressing his creativity and meeting other artists, Musa loves to work with artists that he meets along his way to bring peace, love and joy to the world.

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Musa's Statement for the Exhibition

It’s scary to create work on loss, to try to see and bring light into a space that’s so often hard, heavy and continuous. Something tells me to lock down and shut in and run, but something is also telling me to open up and share so that’s what I’m doing here…

My mum introduced me to fabric, to designing. She inspired me and with that she is a collaborator in this project; together we are working on these pieces. I feel grateful to have infinite access to the memories and good times with her and to channel and manifest this spirit into this work with her.  It’s like when I was young and helping her in the kitchen… with this work, I’m her assistant once again.

We are exploring batik and the study of light - the different characteristics of the spectrum of light that emerge with and through the colours of batik. Birds are also at the centre of this work; birds have such significance in my community as the messengers between heaven and earth, living between the worlds. Birds are also a reminder of my connection to my mum and when I recognise this connection I feel joy, not sorrow. Together all these elements freeze a moment in time where there’s love and light.  

Even when I try to access dark moments, they immediately evaporate and shift into colour and light. Allowing myself to grieve has allowed everything to become cosmic. I’m letting go of attachments to negative emotions, to needs and wants. Even in the darkest moments we are guaranteed light.