It was a chilly afternoon in late November 2024 when I first met the Kenyan painter and artist, Velma Rosai, at the Ngong race course in Nairobi. The occasion was Sexual Utopia, a festival on sex, sexualities, and pleasure that I co-directed with Kaz, a Kenyan sex educator and pole dance instructor. When Velma and I ran into each other, we both paused in a moment of recognition. “I’m such a fan of yours,” she said. “I am a MAJOR fan of yours” I responded. 

I had become familiar with Velma’s striking image over several years. I had been following 2ManySiblings, the artistic duo composed of Velma and her brother, Oliver Asike, on Instagram for years. I would often pause my scrolling when I came across their stills. They were usually captured staring blank faced at the camera – unsmiling and simultaneously stunning – dressed in edgy, eclectic clothing.

When I met Velma, she had her long black signature braids swinging past her shoulders. We hugged, and began a friendship maintained through DMs and Telegram messages where we discussed everything from art to the state of our sex lives.

One of the things that fascinates and inspires me the most about Velma is the fact that in 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she turned to painting, and since then has crafted an intentional life as a solo artist. I think there is much that writers can learn from the ways that visual artists work, and so I recently reached out to Velma to talk about the possibilities and challenges of being an African painter.

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Nana Darkoa

What led you to painting as an artistic practice?

Velma Rosai

During the pandemic, I realised that I was done with toxic corporate work cultures. I have always been a solitary person, and in painting I have found beauty in solitude. I can spend days on my own, and being a painter allows me plenty of space to do so.

Nana Darkoa

What inspires the work you create?

Velma Rosai

I’m inspired by African folktales, and the stories we tell and how they connect us through the Diaspora. For instance, there is a belief in Lamu that the spirits are attracted to shiny objects. One time, there was a boating accident, and everyone who had a piece of jewellery on, lost it. I was telling that story during my residency at Dot Ateliers in Accra to a crowd that had visited my studio, and there was someone from Guyana there. He connected to that story because he once went swimming with a friend who lost their gold chain in the water. I resonate with the recognition that we live in a world with outerworldly beings and spirits. I try to capture this in my paintings.

Nana Darkoa

While you were in residency in Ghana, I had the opportunity to visit your studio, and was lucky enough to purchase one of your pieces. Can you speak to the art that I bought from you?

Velma Rosai

It was a study of red. I find red as a colour really hard to work with, and so I decided to do a study of it. There is a freedom when I approach the work as a study. There is no pressure for it to be perfect. I ended up being really happy with that work. It also had elements of fuchsia, black and yellow stars which really brought the work together. Up to now, I have another collector who keeps writing asking about that piece of art.

Nana Darkoa

Please don’t recreate that work for anyone else.

Velma Rosai

I definitely won’t.

Nana Darkoa

Tell me about the places where your art has been collected?

Velma Rosai

I am currently represented by Union Pacific Gallery in London, and so the majority of my work has been sold there. I also have work sold in LA, New York, Lamu, and of course, Accra.

Nana Darkoa

How does one make money as a painter?

Velma Rosai

It can be really helpful having gallery representation because not only do they sell your work, but they also participate in art fairs which can be a really lucrative market to connect with collectors. Of course, people can also buy art directly from the artist.

What I have also found really helpful, personally, is obtaining grants to support your creative practice, and to receive stipends from residencies and fellowships.

Some artists who are at the peak of their work can have lucrative collaborations with design houses, corporations, and other brands. Think of Amoako Boafo’s collaboration with Dior as one such example. But there are also all sorts of ways to make money as an artist. Artists can be commissioned to create artworks for novels, teach workshops, and can produce their own merchandise. There was one time when I was in LA that someone approached me wanting to rent one of my artworks as a backdrop in a film set, so that’s another way to make money. Rent out art. I think you need to have a creative approach to making money as an artist, and not rely on only one source of income.

Nana Darkoa

Talking about Amoako Boafo, let’s talk about the Dot Ateliers residency you did in Ghana, which he of course founded. What did you get out of that experience?

Velma Rosai

That residency really opened me up to the art world. Actually, the current gallery that represents me contacted me while I was at the Dot Ateliers residency. Many high profile art institutions came through the studios to meet the participating artists. There were visitors from institutions like the Tate, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), etc. It was quite a packed schedule where I also had to give a number of public talks and workshops, which for an introvert like me can be a bit overwhelming.

The residency I am at now is very different – it’s in the Global North and that can be a strange location for me as an African artist because I feel like I am always having to explain my practice in a way that I do not need to while I am in the Global South. Plus, there is the isolation of usually being the only African – which is the case at my current residency. In order to cope with the disconnection I sometimes feel in the West, I try to get into nature as much as possible. I go for walks by the ocean, and walk in parks – I touch flowers, and walk on the grass as much as possible. It helps me stay centred while I’m away from home.

Nana Darkoa

What are you working on now?

Velma Rosai

I am working on a special project that will be revealed soon, and so for now I am going to leave it at that.

I am also working on some postcard sized studies inspired by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, an artist from Ivory Coast. He is famous for having created several hundred postcard sized drawings. I am planning to add gold leaf to my postcards to make them even more precious.

Nana Darkoa

Thank you for sitting down with me!

 

 

All photographs are from MAX LEJUSTE