Environmental Art Speaks for the Planet- Artist Visionary Cyrus Kabiru

A self-taught sculptor and painter, Cyrus Kabiru is crafting visually striking artwork from abandoned refuse he collects from the streets of the Kenyan capital.

"When I woke up every morning, the first thing I'd see was trash," recalls Kabiru, whose childhood home faced a garbage heap where all of Nairobi's waste was dumped in Kenya. "I used to say to my dad that when I grow up, I want to give trash a second chance."
And that's exactly what he went on to do.
Cyrus Kabiru's Optical Art is the most fascinating use of re-purposed materials. As the eyes are the light of the soul, Kabiru has reflected and transported the discarded technology of the western world into a bold transmogrification.

Using wires, spoons and bottle tops, his artistry gains a new lease of life for found refuse materials as vital components of his art pieces. His art depicts the concept of looking at the world through rose colored glasses. He has been able to see trash as treasure, yet more to the idea of peering through the looking glasses and seeing the magic of life, nature and the environment.

Kabiru has created other pieces besides his Optical art...

Our Ancient Ancestors paid humble Propitiation to the environment and for anything that was removed. A prayer and offering was made before entering a river, a forest, a cave, or a mountain. if an animal was taken EVERY part of the animal was used, there was no waste… This is how the Artisans and craftworkers came to be. 

Now we produce products that remain in the environment for hundreds of years and do not biodegrade in a healthy way for the planet. Tons of toxic liquids are just sprayed out into the atmosphere from planes, dumped into the oceans, sealed a buried underground, in caves, or even burned!… 

We all have accountability to the planet. All of the trash, like dirty water going down the drain affects the planet in other parts of the world. These pieces of plastic are permeating and permuting the planet. Plastic bottles and lids of all kinds, plastic wrappers, plastic medicine containers, snack wrappers, plastic grocery sacks, bottle tops, Plastic Cigarette lighters, foam meat trays, medical vials and tubing, COVID surgical masks, Latex gloves, spent diabetes needles, broken television monitors, shoe foam inserts, Flip flops spent batteries, Polyester, acrylic and nylon clothing, soda can liners, water bottles, broken television monitors, Aluminum, Mercury, automotive liquids and parts, etc, etc., Are clogging up our waterways sea shores and land .

Remnants of plastic containers end up in the world's oceans where they are beaten by waves and the surf into smaller particles that float, often getting captured by ocean gyres. Other bits end up on beaches. Ingestion of such plastics kills many marine animals. Sea birds, including petrels and albatrosses, think floating plastic is food and they feed it to their chicks, killing them. Marine turtles mistake floating plastic bags for their natural food jellyfish and eat it, becoming constipated and die.

Plastic products are dangerous and hazardous to your health as well as the lives of many other animals. It is best not to drink out of plastic bottles or eat canned food from cans lined with plastic. Do not microwave food in plastic containers -- use glass, it's inert.

 

These pictures inspired me and effected my thoughts on my creative journey.. These photos are why I began Adenike’s Arts, reduce, reuse, recycle an environmental Art initiative. 

We now have plastic in our food supply, a in our children’s vital organs. Researchers studying the effects of female hormones on cancer were perplexed when their distilled water controls tested positive for the female hormone estrogen. Eventually, after some months of sleuthing, they discovered that the plastic centrifuge tubes they were using were leaching out molecules that mimicked estrogen. Further research identified the offending molecules as alkylphenol polyethoxylates (chemicals found in many detergents, pesticides, and personal-care products), which can break down into nonylphenol and other chemicals that mimic estrogens when they encounter bacteria in animals' bodies, in the environment, or in sewage treatment plants. Another group of researchers found an estrogen mimic, bisphenol-A, leaching from polycarbonate, an entirely different kind of plastic. Polycarbonate is used in the manufacture of lab flasks, as well as many consumer products, including jugs and bottles used for drinking water. Bisphenol A is also found in high concentrations in the plastic linings used for canned foods. The use of plastic containers for baby foods is of grave concern.

Certain plastics in common use, produce estrogen mimics that disrupt the action of normal hormones, causing feminization. Unfortunately these leach into groundwater supplies. If ingested, these molecules can cause breast and prostate cancers, premature puberty among young females, as well as decreased sperm counts among males. Estrogen mimics from plastics also provoke insulin resistance which can lead to diabetes.

WE EACH HAVE TO DO SOMETHING! Melinite people must speak on behalf of the environment.

WE MUST SAVE PERMANENT STANDARD TIME 

AND END DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME!

PLASTIC DOES NOT BIODEGRADE BACK INTO THE ENVIRONMENT! They represent our toxic waste and the gigantic carbon footprint of each individual, in a consumer society. So many of these plastic fragments are eaten by birds and toxic fluids are consumed by fish. So many animals are choking, suffocating, and caught in plastic.
This is the view of Cyrus Kibiru. Since his childhood, he had the view of a garbage mountain of imperialistic conspicuous consumerism waste. Through all of the toxic slop, he has made something beautiful.

Links:

Pacific Garbage Patch
Trash Vortex
Plastic Pollution
Trashed Pacific

adenike.arts@gmail.com
amen.ankh@live.com  or call: (816)281-7704

Please like our facebook pages:

https://www.facebook.com/Green.Griot
https://www.facebook.com/PARANKH
https://www.facebook.com/Amen.Ankh.Farm
https://www.facebook.com/Adenike.Art
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ankh-The-Way-of-Life-Communities

Dua (Th-ankh you!) ♥.

In 1991, Adenike’s Arts opened specializing in original handcrafted notions and accessories. Creating is a healing holistic therapy for the wellness of our Gnomes and Klans! We celebrate the circles of life as Kemetic Aboriginal Ministers, Officiating in Weddings, African Consultations and Namings, Home Blessings, Seasonal Events, and Performance Arts. We practice color, light, sound, and aroma therapy as well as the study of Crystals and electromagnetic energy healing. There is food, color, and aroma elemental essence in every venture to empower the Aku to assist in advancing Abundance, Wealth, and Prosperity. I hope you enjoy our Discussions on Arts and Crafts, Health, Mandala Healing, and Native Aboriginal and American Cultures unlimited. We will explore Sol-Feggio, Fractal Energy, and the Secret Life of Plants. Helpful Hints, and Aboriginal philosophy. We welcome your contributions to the discussions. Please Contact us for Arts, Healing, Ceremony & Classes contact: amen.parankh@gmail.com

Afrikan Dance

In Afrika, dance is the worship of the Divine with the body. Our bodies are the temple of the most high. Our bodies are wonderfully made. Dance is much more than physical movement- it is a direct way to celebrate life and create healing for the dancer and the audience. Afrikan Dance is a healing tradition of expressive movements that are unique to Afrikans and their Cultural heritages found all over the diaspora of the planet. From the movements of nature and everyday life, Indigo people of Afrikan descent developed specific dances to summon the energy of the world around them into their bodies - the Temple of Life- for connection, communication, Cultural expression, and healing. We dance in a roundabout, where everyone is a participant. We thank the drummers for the tempo, polyrhythm, and vibrational energy.  Through dance, we become the Griots telling the stories of the hàunt, the harvest birds, the water, the wind, the fire, the plants and the giant creatures. 

These inceptions align with our chakra energy sites, glandular stimulation zones, and Circulatory system...

Dance is a proverb expressing the Elemental principals and Powers, The character, strength, and energy of a majestic animal, as well as the nurturing, meditative, relaxing, and transformative and organic nature of our environment.  Afrikan Dance is the recognition of our body's own inherent wisdom. Dance is a healing and spiritual endeavor and has become a creative force for transformation. Dancing told the stories of daily news and events as well as the histories of families and communities.

African Dance incorporates an understanding and value of culture deeply rooted in a community. Everyone respects each other, listens, is intuitively aware of space, and pays attention to breathing. We are connected to culture through dances, drumming, and songs that relate our rich Afrikan history. Dances from all of the Afrikan Diaspora are celebrated- From the Motherland of West Afrika: Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and other Sub-Saharan countries as well as Arabic, Indian, Haitian, Caribbean, and the Americas. 

 Experiencing our own natural movements, spirit, and sense of humor through improvisation is also cultivated. Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, and Hip Hop have their own origins in the global Afrikan dance Diaspora.

Afro-Hip-Hop Dance

My vision is to garner the expression and energy of our community’s youth, with Amen Ankh Akademy and represent Kansas City metro in local, state and national competitions. I would like to create a variety of artistic expressions that will go on from adolescence into adulthood. Ultimately, I would like to foster a positive climate for Amen Ankh Akademy to become a Mecca that draws the interest, not only to create a sustainable community but a nation. https://amen-ankh.blogspot.com 

Dance Squads are team sport activities that use organized routines made from elements of dance, jumps and stunts to direct spectators to events and to cheer on sports teams at games and matches. The athletes involved are called dancers or a Dance Team. Currently, there are a variety of opportunities for a team to compete at Local, State, and National competitions.

“Dance Squads” first appeared in the form of traditional customs and rituals of indigenous cultures for ceremonial rites, (Hunting and fishing parties, funerals, weddings etc.) as a display of respect for the community elders and rulers, and to encourage the hunters or warriors, as they embarked on their missions. This was important, as the Hunter/Warrior represented the very survival of the community. In many cases, drum, dance and oral culture have played a more central role than written communication particularly in the communication of history, tradition and culture between generations.

Placing great value on improvisation, Afrikan American vernacular dances are characterized by ongoing change and development. Because they exist in social spaces and their main 'purpose' is self-expression, they are continually changing to reflect the needs, interests and personalities of their participants. They are also often characterized by their 'stealing' or 'borrowing' from other dance traditions and any particular Afrikan American vernacular dance shows clear evidence of its relationship to other, earlier dances.

Afrikan and American Laborers, incarcerated, and Military, expressed their anguish and pain through work chants and dances.

The phrase 'Afrikan American vernacular dance' is commonly used to refer to those dances which have developed within the Afrikan American communities of the United States from the 1600s. Afrikan people who were captured, enslaved and brought to American and European diaspora, from the  were representative of a wide range of ethnic groups, and their dances and cultural lives were similarly diverse. To speak of an 'African American vernacular dance' without qualification is to ignore the vast range of dance practices and traditions which developed from these African roots in communities across the United States. Afro-American dance in the earliest days was a response to the conditions of Colonialism and the capitalization of everything in the perview of European colonizers. Cultural life for Afrikan enslaved in America was controlled by land owners and varied between individual enslavers, local communities and the work in which laborers were employed. In general terms, though, we can say that much of the rich cultural and social life of Afrikan slaves in America was forbidden  (for a range of reasons, including social, religious, spite, misunderstanding or simple cruelty), compromised by strict rules, replaced by the culture and climate of the enslavers, or combined with this culture of the enslavers, to produce new hybrid forms. New and different cultural traditions developed not only in different cities across America, but on the properties of different slave owners. There were distinct regional variations in dance in Afrikan American communities, developing as a combination of traditions from different Afrikan ethnic groups, the religious and social predicates of enslavers, and other groups within the immediate society, as responses to the musical and social lives of individuals in that community, and in response to different experiences under slavery.

The idea of dividing performance, competitive and social dance, in Afrikan American vernacular dance, is largely an imposition of Western-European class and cultural values. Now, competition plays an important role in social dance in Afrikan and Afrikan American communities. From the cake walk and lindy hop to 'battles' of hip hop, performances have also been integrated into everyday dance life. Here are contemporary examples; Harlem Shake, Krumping, Hyphy, Snap dance, Cha Cha Slide, Line Dance (Booty Call), Lean wit It, Rock wit It, Walk It Out, footworkin, Chicken Noodle Soup, Crip Walk, Gangsta Walk, Tootsee Roll, The Roosevelt, Getting Lite Poole Palace, Butterfly Dance, Jocin, Tone Wop, Crank Dat Soulja Boy, and A-Town Stomp, and Twerk. Many of these moves can be traced directly to Afrika, South America, and the Caribbean. Like Lin-gin and ka ki Lamba

Initially, percussionists established the rhythm background for our performances. Music is always a preference. Acoustic music is a preference, due to the availability of electricity and audio systems.