An artist living in one of Kenya's

An artist living in one of Kenya's poorest slums is making a splash on the international art scene with his pieces made from recycled trash. Otieno Gomba gathers rubbish from his local community to create pieces that have already been exhibited in Germany and Europe. Here's Bob Jones with this postcard from Kenya.



Here in Kibera, Kenya's largest slum, piles of trash build up along railway tracks and roads.

It's up to the locals deal with their trash - the government doesn't collect it.

But the unwanted waste is a welcome resource for local artist Otieno Gomba.

Gomba collects scrap metal and other trash from a local dealer. He even pays to take away the best pieces.

Today's garbage collection will cost him a dollar, but he believes he can turn that one dollar into many more.

Gomba takes his haul back to his studio at the Maasai Mbili Art Centre.

He sets to work on his next piece, twisting and bending the metal into shape.

As a boy, Gomba had a keen interest in art, but when his guardian couldn't afford to take him to art school he decided to be a sign painter in Kibera.

Then after a few years he started creating art pieces.

A discarded car number plate, a broken speaker, a radio and other bits and bobs are put together with Gomba's creative flair.

"I use junk to show people that something that is rejected can be used to make something new that I can share with everyone."

He used discarded metal and wood to create a series of art pieces he calls 'the maze'.

He fastened pieces of scrap metal irregularly onto a wooden surface to show the haphazard way houses are constructed in Kibera.

The piece of art shows Kibera from an aerial point of view to demonstrate that it's a maze of complicated pathways without beginning or end.
The artists' collective has held several exhibitions internationally, the most recent being in Germany.

Living in the slum not only gives them subject matter for their art, but also an opportunity to use the abundant trash to create their work.

Sylvia Gichia is the director of Kuona Trust, a Centre for Visual Arts in Kenya, a place that promotes artists from Kenya and the East Africa region as a whole.

"Otieno Gomba is an artist who has been in the art scene for a while as a community artist working in a collective that is pretty well known especially in the German circles and the European circles. They have created work that is already in collections in various museums. They have had residency projects and programmes internationally. He would probably be able to sell his art piece here close to 100,000 -150,000 shillings (USD $1000 - $1500) based on size also. If in a couple of years could easily resell it for half a million."

Gichia says starting out as an artist in Kenya - let alone in a poor area like Kibera - is tough.

"We are still actually in the society where art is not the first thing your parents will encourage you to do, unfortunately. We are getting much better that we ever did in my parents' days. But I think until our society or our communities start to understand art and to embrace it, it is always going to be quite difficult because we are not buying art, you know."

Kevin Irungu is another Maasai Mbili artist. He got into art through his friendship with Gomba.

He used to gamble at the space outside the Maasai Mbili art centre, and would sometimes pop in to greet Gomba and the other artists.

They invited him to paint with them and he's never looked back.

With every stroke of the brush, Kevin tells the stories of people living in Kibera. His latest work addresses the rampant use among young men in Kibera of khat, a slight narcotic drug that is chewed in East Africa.

"I was thinking about meditation because in the slum people have a different form of meditation from Yoga. When someone is eating khat, then they say that they are meditating. It's a joke. By doing the painting, I wanted to open a school where people can stop taking this drug and take up the real mediation that is Yoga. I am sure it cannot work in Kibera. So it is a joke, part of daily life in Kibera."

The Maasai Mbili centre creates a much-needed space for artists to express themselves in Kibera.

"If you have a passion for what you are doing, whether you are in Kibera or anywhere else in the world, then you need to have the courage to show it. My passion has given me a reason for living. So someone needs to discover that passion."

Gomba proves that even garbage can be turned into gold with a creative eye and a passion for what you love.