Artists To Watch: Brian Msafiri

Brian Msafiri is not in any way new to the creative scene in Nairobi. He is however on a fast rise to his true icon form as a visual extraordinaire not only in East Africa, but around the world. He has styled, directed, photographed and produced work for some of the best artists around including: Blinky Bill, Karun, Oshun, and Nneka, just to name a few. A hustler and jack of all trades his combined methods of storytelling are unique to him and his ways.

I managed to schedule a meeting with the ever busy artist (who in fact doesn’t consider himself one) to talk about his journey and what he’s generally been up to since the beginning of the year.

Brian Msafiri

What does Visual Curation mean to you? Wow, I’ve actually never really thought of that. I guess to me it means translating ideas into visual forms or installations that sought to create feeling. It’s expressing idealistic thoughts. No two people have the exact same answers to a question, so in a way it’s a way to trigger different perspectives and draw out inspiration from the same.

What are your day to day inspirations?

To be honest, my work is mostly impulsive. My mind works in fast motion, so my ideas come and go from anywhere, but I’m mostly just more driven towards doing me. My inspirations come in form of a need for external stimuli. I don’t even really consider myself an artist because I’m just expressing life, my surroundings; what I see and what I feel. I put myself out there to get that stimuli that inspires me, so by doing me inspiration just comes naturally. 

Tell us about Afrinaladi and how it affected your journey into self?

Afrinaladi is a multimedia residency that was started and curated by Ghanaian artist Jojo Abot in 2016. It all started very organically. I think it was Alexis (Nereah) who sent me an email about it and we started meeting up at Creatives Garage regularly just sharing ideas and fuelling inspiration. The thing is that we were these group of artists with different mediums of expression from different backgrounds that shared similar visions and struggles. We shared our resources with one another, collaborated as much as we could on projects and even did a CSR together. “Making something out of nothing (but ourselves)” was our tagline. That experience helped us come to a place of self acceptance when others rejected our ideas. It helped me become more of myself. Here were people who actually cared for and wanted to listened to what I had to say. People I could execute my uncanny ideas with. It really shifted my perspective on how I could translate my life as art and actually consider changing my hobbies into constant work that I was proud of. To this day, we are still friends.

Images from Afrinaldi Residency

Where would you say your drive for visual storytelling started?

Tumblr. I started going by ‘Boy Traveller’ in my first year of university when I opened my Tumblr account. That’s where I started posting my work, from styling to photography. A lot of inspiration come from there too. My middle name is actually ‘Msafiri’, and I do travel a lot, so it made sense.

Since then how has your style evolved?

Right around the time I finished University I decided to backpack around Kenya for about 2 to 3 months just living the nomad life. As much as I was done with school, I was all over visiting universities like Daystar, UON, JKUAT and Catholic University visiting friends chasing that external stimuli that I was craving. Eventually these nights turned into weeks of not only fun but also of me polishing my skills as both a photographer and traveller. These adventures inspired me to travel more and more, meet new people, take more photographs and sharpen my eye. I also travelled the entire Tanzanian coastline with my camera doing this. So since then my knowledge has increased and my awareness expanded. 

What kind of feelings are conjured within you after releasing the final product of a project you have worked on? Commissioned or personal.

For me the process is my favourite part. The magic is in connecting the dots because each step is a learning curve. That adds more value to me. That’s why I love production; people appreciate the process more. Even when I watch films I always think about the process and what it took to get to those final shots. I think every artist values the process because it’s generally a lot more fun. For example when it comes to styling, I collect plenty pieces to use them later on clients. I enjoy that process and look forward to who will end up using what items.That patience required when collecting and anticipating adds a lot of value to me. The same goes to film photography. That patience of making the right shot, finding the right light, developing the film, scanning it - it inspires me to work even harder to create a worthwhile final form of art.

What then between creative directing, styling, production and photography is your favourite visual outlet?

Film photography has always been my first love. It was my first real step into art. More than anything it represents a sense of tradition that I hold strongly onto. I learnt it from my father. If my parents weren’t taking family photos, I was given that responsibility. It gave me a good eye, and taught me the virtue of patience, the timelessness of art and the importance of archiving. I like learning whatever I can and it led me into this path I walk in now. It will always be my constant simply because it’s timeless.

Brian styling Xenia Manasseh for “See Me” music video

OSHUN on film my Brian Msafiri

How would you describe your journey from then to now?

Constantly living through and thorough! I am such a perfectionist so doing and feeling my best is important to my journey. Creative freedom and respect is also very important to me.

Do you follow any particular ethos when it comes to who and how you work with people?

I like to be proud of the work I attach my name to, but because this is Nairobi, bills have to be paid regardless. I have done some jobs solely for this purpose, they have stifled my creativity and intelligence but I am doing less of that now. I’m more drawn to work that speaks and builds me (even if  I have to do it for free sometimes). However, where I am at now in my career, I expect a certain level of respect for my work and my ideas, therefore pay is relevant to this ethos as well. People even come to me for consultancy, so I think that in itself speaks for my work.

Are there any turning points in your career that changed how you view your work?

Nneka (Nigerian singer/song-writer) sitting with me in my car! It was Blankets And Wine April 2017 and she was on the lineup. Her contact looked for me that day and asked me to style her for a music video she was shooting before leaving Kenya a few days after. Now for me the thing is, I was listening to her entire discography literally a week before she landed in the country. Her music was on rotation as I am a fan. After exchanging contacts with her people and meeting her the day of the shoot, we became really good friends. I was having such a moment that week because here was this artist that I love that asked to work with me and we actually connected as people. For me that was a priceless moment. Kind of like divine alignment. It was a last minute rush (as people commonly do with stylists), but I could never quantify the value that moment gave my life and career. She gave me the only signed CD I own and still sends me bible verses every now and then. It might not be the most exciting story, but to me it was priceless.

What would you tell 16 year old Brian?

Wow, haha. I’d just tell him to keep going with the flow. The unexpected keeps you on your toes and keeps you balanced. Bad and good happen, that’s just life. I’d also tell him to set realistic goals for himself. Sometimes setting the bar up too high shows a sense of not willing to fail, but if the bar is set high enough then there’s room to grow and appreciate the steps it takes to get there. Lastly, controlling your destiny is possible Brian! Believe it. 

Favourite work production and style wise?

Honestly, TVC’S (Commercials) are a lot of fun. My favourite one was with Tusker Lite. I got to work on production and styling while still starring in it with friends too! It was just professionalism at its peak and I learnt a lot from everyone around me that day. 

Do you aspire to have your own team in the future?

Yeah. I just recently got a Personal Assistant and she has been the best! I work as a Liaison for festivals such as Nyege Nyege and Kilifi New Year and she proved to be efficient and effective when we worked on handling over 100 artists for Kilifi New Year 2019/2020, so I officially hired her to work for me after that. I currently have 20+ confirmed projects right now and there’s no room for error. She keeps me organised and I appreciate that. 

Finally, can you mention what some of those projects you are working on are?

I honestly can’t say much but there’s a lot to look forward to. I’m working on a film based project that some really big people (globally) might get to see. Closer to home, I’m creative directing and styling a video for one of the biggest artists in Kenya. I’m about to launch my podcast, get into events and host exhibitions of my work. Some of the learning curves I’ve had to face have been frustrating, but I’m excited to join all these dots. It’s all part of the process.  

Check out Brian’s website to see more of his work and his instagram to catch up on his adventures.