Sorry for the long silence… good to be back on the blog and good to be back in Kenya.

After few more shots in Nairobi, where the street people and their urban spaces were the initial scenario of my work, I’m ready to move on to other landscapes. The perception of people’s space and identity, the adaptation, the presence in the multitudes and in the solitudes are the main themes of my visual journey through Africa and other continents.

I brought to Nairobi the first prints and I’m looking forward to seeing the reaction of the amazing boys and girls that acted with inspiring joy and subtle sense of humour in the theatrical presentation of themselves and of their everyday environment. In the printing process I came across some pictures that I didn’t upload in the first preview. Here’s an example. Few more may follow in the next days.

Hope you’ll enjoy. All your comments are as usual very inspiring and welcome.

I’M A STAR – Preview

“I’m a star” is my final encounter with the chokora, the street people of Nairobi, or maybe my first landing, after years, on a territory where forms of expression may be reciprocally exchanged. With the typical slowness of the view camera and my reconfirmed reliance on the alchemy of film, I envisaged a sort of play of reality in which the crafty actors were the street people themselves. The chokora present the environment in which they live and present themselves to the other world, our world, revealing not only a vigorous manifestation of identity and style, but more surprisingly even, their intimate and unconscious provocatory balance in a suburban scenario in which improvisation and survival become a form of art, one of scathing and unsuspected beauty.

I’M A STAR preview – Dandora Star

I’M A STAR preview – Mbiwi in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Mathare Star

I’M A STAR preview – Elija in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Nelson in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Milango Kubwa Stars

I’M A STAR preview – Monica in Lillliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Lilliput B base Star

I’M A STAR preview – Judith in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Lilliput B base Stars

I’M A STAR preview – Uganda boy in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Eastleigh Stars

I’M A STAR preview – Onesmas in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Mary in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Lilliput Stars

I’M A STAR preview – Man Man in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Esther in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Hitlar in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Omar in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Milango Kubwa star

I’M A STAR preview – Uknown in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Kinyanjui in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Kamau in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Muya in Lilliput base

I’M A STAR preview – Milango Kubwa stars2

CHOKORA STYLE…

…Study for the final shoot

In 2009 I left for Kenya to work on a photographic project, I intended to portray the subtle balance connecting African people with their surrounding environment. The project, named “A Bit of Africa”, should have provided as initial backdrop the suburban areas around Nairobi, later widening its focus towards pastoral and rural areas in East Africa. Two years after my first shot in Mathare, in the north-eastern suburbs of Nairobi, I can take stock of the fact that projects sometimes surprise whoever devised them, taking their own path towards unexpected directions, or better, as in my case, coiling around the starting point. I never left Nairobi and instead kept finding new inspiration on the theme I was after.”A bit of Africa” therefore morphed into “Chokora Style”, when the superficial impact with a situation that was hard to process – the metropolitan outskirts of African cities – left room for the discovery of the values of the Chokora, street kids, and a deeper learning of a fascinating scene.

THE ORIGINAL NAIROBI SIGHTSEEING TOUR………….DISCOUNTED TICKETS

Nairobi is cold, polluted, unjust and over congested…but I love it. Yes, I love Nairobi. There’s nothing more urban and at the same time nothing wilder. Let me show you around through some random pictures that I’ve taken in the last couple of years.

Note: This post is meant to be a light introduction to my main project “I’m a Star” – a series of portraits depicting a charismatic self-presentation by the street kids of Nairobi in their environment. The title could be be misleading and a tad incautious, as it was hardly an exhaustive tour of Nairobi I was aiming to portray. Many remarkable aspects of this beautiful city are totally missing from my pictures because I was of course more involved and more present in the areas where I was carrying out the main shooting with the street kids. I kindly encourage you to look at my homepage and welcome your feedback. Since this blog is a work in progress I confess that I didn’t find other ways to move to the homepage than mysteriously clicking on “Paolo Novelli” on the upper left side of any page. Enjoy

CHOKORA STYLE – MEN OF THE DAY

NJOROGE (left) and MAINA

NICKNAMES: MAPENGO (WITHOUT TEETH) AND MACHO (EYES)

AGE: 26 and 24

Mapengo is Lilliput base counsellor, in charge of admitting new people or rejecting those who don’t respect the base rules. One of Lilliput’s main rules is not to accept junkies, for the general belief that they are potential thieves. Macho, an ex Lilliput base member, was recently forced to move to Nigeria base, the most popular base amongst the junkies. Two bases, different rules, different people, but the friendship between the two is still on…

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PAOLO NOVELLI