Kaspale’s Playground is a theatrical performance with installation about Kenya’s recent history. Performer and artist Syowia Kiambi plays Kaspale, a playful impostor who goes to Nyayo House in Nairobi, the place where every Kenyan collects his/her official documents. This was also the place where government opponents were held captive in the 1980s and 1990s. Kaspale is tearing down this building to pay tribute to the mothers’ protest of 1992, when mothers in a desperate attempt to free their sons from Nyayo House stripped naked in public in Nairobi’s Uhuru Park. In this theatrical installation with costumes, video and performance, Syowia Kyambi takes the audience into a world of resistance and protest, where women display their ultimate means of struggle: stripping themselves naked on the street and showing their bodies to the established power, the police, that runs away. Work by Syowia Kyambi is currently also on display in the Kenyan pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Credits

Director and performance:       Syowia Kyambi
Length:                                           60 min