The Kakuma Art Project is the brainchild of Tara Dominick – a fine artist from the UK, and Hubert Senga – a refugee from Congo and the Founder of the charity, Generation Aid which operates within the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya and aims to create opportunities, training and personal empowerment for the refugees that live there.

It all started with one painting that Tara created in her garden studio in the Summer of 23. She found herself filling the Noahs’ Ark abstract boat with refugees. This is something you don’t see at first glance, but taking a closer look you can see many refugees, in life jackets in the boat.

Tare wondered is somehow the BOAT could help a refugee charity.

On linkedin she linked up with Hubert Senga

“My journey was not easy. I risked my life crossing Lake Tanganyika from Congo to Tanzania, with no map, no compass just the desperate will to find safety. That journey, and the loss I endured, shaped who I am today.Now, I am a social entrepreneur, refugee advocate, and the Founder & Director of Generation Aid, a non-profit organization committed to creating opportunities for refugees. The Art Project was born from a powerful moment of connection. I came across one of Tara’s paintings a haunting image of migrants in a ‘boat of hope’ adrift without a compass. That painting touched me deeply. It mirrored my own journey, my own uncertainty, and the countless stories of refugees across the world.”

Tara initially wanted to get some painting materials into the camp and to run a therapeutic workshop for artists living there. She managed to raise funds for this by selling 10 Limited edition prints of BOAT. The success of the first workshop and the quality of art produced by the refugee artists and the stories that went alongside their work was so inspiring. Tara decided to fundraise to build an art gallery – she did this by running an Art-a-thon event in the UK where sponsored artists and writers spent ten hours creating. The first and only art gallery in Kakuma, The Senga Gallery was born with a mission to show what can be achieved by refugees who have experienced massive upheaval in their lives.

The Senga Gallery is a beacon of hope for other members of the Kakuma refugee community to show that they are not alone in their lived experience and to inspire them to tell their own stories through art. The Senga Gallery is also a focus for visiting officials and dignitaries, highlighting the indomitable creativity of human beings that might otherwise have been hidden in the noise and dust of a desert refugee camp.

We would like to thank all the people who have worked so hard to support  The Kakuma Art Project, our donators, our fundraisers, our builders in Kakuma and the team at Generation Aid who run The Senga Gallery. You can see more about the work of the Kakuma Art Project and the Senga Gallery on our associated links.

🎥 YouTube: @KakumaArtProject

🔸 Follow Us on Instagram @artline4kakuma

If you would like to donate to support any of our ongoing art projects click on our JustGiving button. Thank you.