Tracing The Wild
A dynamic data art project telling the stories of predators in the Maasai Mara.
Built from data reflecting the biosocial interactions of predators and human communities in the Mara, this artwork is one way to express the life of these rare creatures who are protected by the innovative conservation organisation Kenya Wildlife Trust.
The outcome is a dynamic data-driven art project led by Nairobi-based artist Chuma Anagbado alongside creativity hub Nairobi Design in collaboration with data architect Daria Smakhtina and SNI’s Director of Creative Engagement Seth Bockley. This initiative visualises predator data from Kenya Wildlife Trust (KWT) as a series of digital and physical data-based ‘portraits’ along with interactive artwork created in collaboration with tech developers, designers, and story gatherers.
This project harnesses data from lions' patterns of territorial movement and conflict with humans in order to represent the predator ecosystem in Kenya's Maasai Mara region as a dynamic human-nonhuman collaborative artwork, providing a vivid and emotionally affective experience of scientific knowledge and real-time health of nature.
"The data lines were a natural fit with my art, which reimagines a cultural past, leverages modern technology and projects it into a digitised future. I’ve always wanted to include conservation in my work.”
"The data lines were a natural fit with my art, which reimagines a cultural past, leverages modern technology and projects it into a digitised future. I’ve always wanted to include conservation in my work.”
– Chuma Anagbado
Tracing The Wild features Chuma Anagbado’s hardwood-etched portraits of three specific lions, known to the conservation community as Mama Kali, Naramat, and Sintamei, alongside Daria Smakhtina’s renderings of these animals' movements as 3-D digital sculptures.
Nairobi Design was our partner in creating this project as a site-specific installation.
Tracing The Wild premiered on March 11-19 at the Opportunity Factory in Nairobi, Kenya.
THE TEAM
Creative & Showcase Lead,
Nairobi Design Week
Nairobi Design Week
Artist
Data Visualisation Architect
Naitiemu
Chuma Anagbado
Daria Smakhtina
Director and Founder,
Nairobi Design Week
Nairobi Design Week
Director of Creative Engagement, SNI
Communications Officer,
Kenya Wildlife Trust
Kenya Wildlife Trust
Adrian Jankowiak
Seth Bockley
Felixie Kipng'etich
AR Designer
Sound Design & Engineer
Head of Partnerships and
Field Research, SNI
Field Research, SNI
Lyosi Mwedekeli
Mercy Barno
Alessandro Mazzi