About Me
The City Speaks — I Paint Its Rhythm.
James Kamande Biography
JAMES KAMANDE BIOGRAPHY (born 1992)
Contemporary Visual Artist | Mixed Media Specialist
Email: kamandej25@gmail.com | Instagram: kamande_artkenya
Phone: +254 701021151
Based in: Nairobi, Kenya Experience: 10+ years
Website: jameskamande.com
james Kamande lives and works in Nairobi Kenya. His primary medium is acrylics, charcoals and steel. He is an urban storyteller whose work delves into the layered narratives of Nairobi’s built environment. Through paintings and sculptures, he creates works that explore the intersections of housing, economy, society and politics, using architectural forms as both subject and metaphor. His practice captures the lived realities of himself and urban communities, resilience, fragility, and collective memory—while also reflecting on themes of society and habitats, labour and social transformation.
He is a self taught Artist and has participated in various workshops within Nairobi ArtSpace; Print making workshop, Kairos Futura, Nairobi, Zine Making Workshop, Munyu Art Space, Nairobi, Photography Workshop, Brush Tu, Nairobi.
He has had a Solo exhibition, Urban Shelters at Redhill Art Gallery, Nairobi, 2025
Group exhibitions include – Cultural tapestries, National Museum Creativity Gallery,
Nairobi,2026, Between signals, Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI), Nairobi, 2026,
Contemporary Art Affair, Trademark, Nairobi, 2025, Mikwaruzo, Kairos Futura, Nairobi, 2025, Unstretched, Cincinna , House of Friends Gallery,2024, Danish Embassy 2024, Resonance of memory and Time, Sena Gallery, 2024, Esho Funi, Ardhi Gallery, Nairobi, 2023, Safety in my World, Ardhi Gallery, Nairobi, 2023, Art Affair, OneOff Gallery, Nairobi, 2023. His works has been collected in Europe and USA and he continues to break even as his practice develop in exhibitions, perspectives and in scope.
He was awarded the Men’s Runners Up Certificate, Alliance Francaise / Uweza Founda on Art Fair, 2024 and 2nd Winner Certificate, Karen Village Art Fair, 2024 and has had notable press publication; Kenya Arts Diary, 2025, Society & Culture, System Magazine, 2024 and the Arts & Culture, Standard Newspaper 2026.
He reshapes the textures and tensions of daily urban life into a living language—where muted encounters between people and their spaces rise, breathe, and become seen.
Why Collect My Work
Each piece I create tells a story that transcends the canvas — a story of people, spaces, and the silent poetry of city life.
My art is not only visual; it’s emotional, historical, and deeply rooted in Nairobi’s evolving identity. I seek to preserve the rhythm of everyday resilience, the architecture of hope, and the grace found in struggle.
Collecting my work means being part of a larger conversation about belonging, transformation, and memory in the modern urban world.