UoC Faculty of Arts and Humanities Institute for African Studies Faculty and other staff Prof. Dr. Heike Behrend

Samuel “Masada” Chakua

Painter Samuel “Masada” Chakua calls himself a natural artist, “because you don’t need any one to teach you how to paint, but to be born and brought up in Mombasa (a coastal city in Kenya) and its colourful environs is inspirational enough.“, he says.

Since the schools he attended did not teach Arts, that did not prevent his teachers to notice the potential in him, hence, on behalf of his teachers he did a lot of drawings on black boards for all classes, little did he knew that his ‘artistic vocation‘ had just started ...

Masada, now 42, lives and runs an art studio in Likoni, which is south of Mombasa in Kenya. He enjoys paintings and as his full time job. “The beauty of art is one great thing which can unite people across Nations, racial and cultural borders;”, he comments.

His paintings mainly focuses on social issues in Africans culture and themes, his style is contemporary, using acrylic paints on sanded canvass to produce very bold and powerful images.

He has participated in collective exhibitions in Diani gallery, Old law Court gallery, Alliance Française (all in Kenya) and held a personal exhibitions in several Mombasa cultural fairs.

To contact the painter e-mail massadart@yahoo.com