A Dual Exhibition: James Kagima and Dennis Kagima: Circle Art Gallery Two

DENNIS MURAGURI (Kenyan, b. 1980) lives and works in Nairobi, Kenya

Muraguri is a Nairobi-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans the mediums of printmaking, sculpture, video and installation in varying combinations. He gained recognition for his imagery of matatus – privately owned vans and mini-buses that are the main mode of public transportation in Kenya - and the culture that has developed around them in his work. Muraguri's woodcut prints reference both Nairobi’s urban culture and international popular culture using of graffiti, music and politics depicted on these real life matatus. Muraguri received a Diploma in Painting and Art History from the Buruburu Institute of Fine Art (2003) and has been a resident artist at the Kuona Artists’ Collective (formerly the Kuona Trust Art Centre) since 2007. He has exhibited extensively in Nairobi, including a solo exhibition at Circle Art Gallery, 2016, Jua Kali, 2014, a collaborative installation with Tahir Karmali and Tonney Mugo which went on to be included in Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design at the Vitra Design Museum, ‘Kesho Kutwa' at the Nairobi national museum, 2021 and a solo sculpture exhibition at Circle Art Gallery, 2021. He has participated in international art fairs such as 1-54 Contemporary Art Fair, London, 2016, and the Jo’burg Art Fair, 2016. Muraguri was also one of the participating artists in the 2014 edition of the KLA Public Art Festival, in Kampala, Uganda,the Kochi Muziri Biennale, 2018, in Cochin India. His work is also featured as cover art on the apple music platform 'EA wave' and on ‘WeTransfer.’

JAMES KAGIMA (Kenyan, b. 1998), lives and works in Nairobi, Kenya

As a multidisciplinary artist, James Kagima has always grounded his work in the knowledge of self. By his final year of high school, he had a clear vision of his future as an artist, with a particular interest in portraiture depicting scenes from his immediate environment.

His bachelor's degree in architecture at the University of Nairobi merged science and art, while giving him the opportunity to explore product design, contemporary artists and the philosophy of architecture. In 2018, during his third year at university, he met Njogu Kuria and enrolled in the Safari Mentorship Arts Program. He explored fashion, fine art and architectural design, establishing his denim brand Nairobi Nnoize, sustainability is at the core of his practice across the media he creates.

Kagima’s portraits depict Black male figures as an exploration into masculinity. As he was learning more about manhood in the absence of a stable male presence through most of his life, he was taught to become a man by his peers and, subconsciously, his art gravitated towards exploring this theme. His work centres on what he describes as ‘black boy culture,’ - men as he saw them in sports, action, dancing and fashion; men as they raised and moulded him into the artist he had become.

Kagima’s work has previously been showcased at the Affordable Art Show, Kobo Trust in 2025, and at Circle Art Gallery, where he was showcased among 25 Emerging Artists in East Africa.