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.

About his name “Masada” he tells: “I first heard about the word masada from the raggae song “Masada” by African musician Alpha Blondy. It is by the words or lyrics of this song I got my name, my identity, as a rastaman by then, and the strength to move on in life. The song is talking about hope literally referring to Masada, the Jewish village which was destroyed latter by Romans soldiers. To begin with as I will make myself brief, it was in early 90s when I first came to Likoni to clear my head, probably, after the company I was working for abruptly closed down. It was the end of my world because I lost everything in life except one dream which was still intact – painting. So I put up a workshop and after a long thought I decided to call me – myself and the studio – “Masada” by writing in front of it with giant letters. First it was the right name as many of my work was rasta items. Second, because I saw the light at the end of the tunnel – hope if I may put it that way.”

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