Most writers and artists within the Kenyan context come into their creative practices outside formal educational institutions and develop their crafts and intellectual rigor in community and by themselves. They invent language, style, tools, and even mediums with which to speak about the things that matter to them. Inventiveness remains key to the ways of seeing and theories of existence that animate cultural production in Kenya. Colonial hegemonies have captured imagination and history to ensure that it is difficult to pinpoint the origin of various oppressive phenomena.

Within this context, the C& Nairobi team approaches their practice through interventions in language, tools, and mediums to work with the skills, artistic heritage, and scholarly rigor of the local community. Pushing against deeply entrenched systems of colonialism, the C& Nairobi Office and Reading Room is a (re)source of power, expanding skill development through networks and using education to produce generational recognition.

C& actively engages with Nairobi’s dynamic art scene through collaborations and public programs. In 2022 we established a physical, open, walk-in hub set up as a reading room and library that includes a smallscale printing lab for making zines and small art publications as well as electronic office equipment. A space equipped in this way has proven to be a huge support for emerging artists and writers.

This ability to serve as a hub has increased as C& Nairobi expands its connections through building partnerships with local arts organizations and institutions.

Since April 2024, C& Nairobi has partnered with Munyu, an artist-run space in the Mall’s basement. Munyu reimagines art beyond elite structures, fostering radical accessibility and alternative models of creation, exhibition, and value. C& shares research materials and production equipment with Munyu, as well as supporting workshops and creative projects.

C& also hosts local and international visitors. Its monthly profiles and interviews amplify Nairobi artists’ voices, practices, and contributions to the city’s vibrant cultural scene.