Check Out Ephraim Mboka’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ephraim Mboka.

Hi Ephraim, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
For as long as I could remember ive always been an artist, as a toddler enjoying coloring shapes and patterns with crayons, as a teen keeping a drawing book and filling it with drawings of all the popular celebrities,cartoons and sportsmen,and now as young man creating beautiful works of art on canvas, dare i say,it was meant for this. I’ve always seen art as a tool of self expression and in my opinion God’s best gift to humanity.I love art,i dont ever see myself doing anything else anylife its either,art or art.I grew up in Nairobi,capital city of Kenya.Nairobi is a very artsy city,full of colors shapes sounds movements a city bustling with life.Countless creatives have either come to or come from Nairobi and made names for themselves some even gaining international acclaim.Growing up i really looked up to Patrick Mukabi,one of the most famous Kenyan Painters,he used to have a segment in a kids TV show called “Art Zone” where he would either paint draw or make some amazing crafts and i was there for it all,i made art along side him on the other side of the screen,later on in life,I was fortunate enough to work under his mentorship in his community studio for 3 months in 2019. Most of my schoolbooks were filled with scribbles,doodles and drawings and my most favorite activity in class is when there was a diagram to draw as part of our activities.It made me so happy when my classmates referred to me as the “class artist” and when the teacher would call me to help in drawing an image on the board relevant to the lesson,people even paid me to make drawings for them come to think of it.All during highschool my mind was set on being a full time artist even though at the time i had no idea what that looked like,i had seen artists all over,some who took their practice overseas and thrived and came back and now were seen as icons but i didnt know how to apply that to me.I went to art school in Buruburu ,one of Nairobi’s historically artsy neighbors,walking in Buruburu is like walking in an open air art gallery,there are colorful grafittis adorning walls all over,public transport pimped with bold artworks and loud music (google “Matatu culture in Nairobi” youll be amazed) and beautiful galleries and art spaces.
My art college, BIFA (Buruburu Institute of Fine Arts) is the finest art institution in Kenya and it was a priviledge to graduate from there,but even still i dont feel like it gave me what i truly needed,art schools tend to have one particular style that they’d want all people to emulate and i just wasnt feeling that.The years that followed really shaped me as an artist cause they made go on an internal journey to discover what i truly wanted as an artist.I experimented alot,watched Youtube videos,waste lots of precious paint on practise but in the end i can say it payed off.I came to learn soon that no one is really coming to save me so i have to put in the work.Many artists wait to be discovered by galleries and collectors so they never try do anything to get themselves out. I knew that it would be some time before i get gallery shows atleast in Nairobi and so i had my own ways of creating visibility for my work,having a table/stand in community events really helped,as i made connections and sold several pieces in the process. Eventually i was signed by a gallery (Usanii Mashariki Gallery) and that was the happiest moment of my career,there i was in my first ever group show and later i sold some pieces too.Ive had to redefine myself so many times in my art career and moving to the US was one of them,i literally had to restart everything from scratch,in Nairobi i had community,friends an upcoming career but coming to Denver i had to leave all that behind.The first few months were tough as I couldnt do much artistically,but with the help of friends i was taken on a visit first to a friend’s home studio (Paul Valdez)then to Recreative Denver then to the Denver Museum and there a desire was reborn.I knew i wanted to follow my passion,I started creating again and 3 months later got my first oportunity to be in a group exhibition in RemainReal gallery and as they say the rest is history.Being in that show helped me build community that i so much needed.Since then ive sold several paintings been part of exhibitions,have media features,taught in a summer camp in Alburqueque for two weeks and started my own art community called “Sketch Party” which happens once every month

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been anything but smooth, I remember one turning point in my art career is when my father lost faith in my art, atleast at that time, I was really struggling, no money coming through I didn’t have any “real” job and i’m volunteering a lot. My father has always been one of my biggest supporters, when i told him that after high school I wanted to go to art school he fully supported me and provided for everything i needed. Things weren’t so smooth after art school tho, trying to make it as an upcoming artist saturated with many celebrity artists and independent ones too. I am grateful to the people who along the journey encouraged me to keep creating despite the challenges, I remember there was this one accomplished artist in our neighborhood who anytime he saw he would always call me “msanii” (that’s Swahili for artist), and he would always tell people that i will be a big artist in future, at the time i wondered why he believed in me so much even tho i could hardly paint, but he was calling something into existent, the power of a true Creative. Art can be a long and lonely road sometimes,I’ve had to be broke and alone so many times, not everyone gets it, not everyone thinks that it’s possible to make a living from art, and being in a financial crunch doesn’t even help the situation, but if there’s one thing i’ve learnt is you have to work on your self – talk and how you see yourself coz unless you do people will always try to put you down

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a creative first of all then i’m a painter, what’s the difference you ask, as a creative you are in charge of so much more than just your canvas, you are in charge of reality itself, you are a tree of life oozing, with abundance and creativity for an ailing world, your creativity is like a river that transforms the landscape wherever it flows, creativity is the source then the specific gift is the channel through which creativity is transmitted to the world,for me its,drawing,painting and writing but mostly painting. I mainly work with oils and acrylics,people are my greatest inspiration as they are my main subjects.I mainly enjoy the impressionistic style of painting,loose and expressive brushstrokes speak to my soul .I have a very unique style of painting ,there,s something about it thats original to me only. Its a style that has taken alot of time to perfect but i enjoy it. The Denver art scene is full of so many wonderful artists but i try not to copy anyone,if you were to see my work in an exhibition among other works then you would agree that its very unique.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Being an artist in itself is risk-taking. Imagine choosing to be a creative in a society that only respects “traditional professional jobs”, Recently i’ve had to quit my job so that i can give more time to my practice and work more with the community in a non-profit , i feel like this is more in alignment with my soul purpose as I can have a real time impact on people and will get numerous opportunities to use my work for a greater cause. I think people hate and discourage creatives who have the courage to go after their dreams coz they (people) are reminded of their fear of trying, to know that there’s someone out there who is bold enough to dare to dream big is a threat in itself. Sometimes these people can be people close to us,our parents,teachers,friends, partners or just some stranger. Coming to the US I told anyone who would listen that I want to be an artist and everyone had their own response to that, most people thought I was disillusioned but one year later I can name a long list of achievements i’ve had by choosing to be an artist and to keep showing up for my craft

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/ephraim-mboka
• Instagram: rahmi_creations
• Facebook: Ephraim Mboka

Image Credits
Image 1: “Patience brings relief” painting by Rahmi Image 2: Matatu culture in Nairobi Image 3: First ever US exhibition Image 4:Rahmi in a past exhibition Image 5: Sketch party,monthly hangout for creatives Image 6: Rahmi in action,a live painting session