Rodah Rioba

I love to laugh, I love happiness and I love boldly. My visual expression of this is by harmonizing contrasting colours, designs and styles. I am a sketch artist and a painter. I am also a singer and songwriter. These gifts were an escape from my childhood struggles and predominant fears. The ARTS is where I found fulfilment, peace and joy; I literally would get lost in it.

My works of art mirror my innermost expressions of vibrancy, rusticity, symbolism, sentimentality, and timelessness, while alluding to rich and subtle meanings that, through our individual experiences, make each piece relatable. I find joy, peace and comfort when creating art and I hope you feel it too.

I am a Gifted Artist
Gifted By God

In my early childhood, I had always felt compelled or urge to draw and sketch; mostly doodling though I did not think much of it until after an art class assignment given at school. I drew a portrait of a woman carrying our Kenyan traditional clay pot on her head and she had accidentally tripped on a rock while walking. I honestly just thought it would be so cool to foster anticipation and create anxiety through the suspense of whether she fell or did the pot break or was there anything in the pot or was she able to save herself and the pot entirely from the fall. I believed at the time that my imagination would compensate for the lack of artistic talent.

The submission day unexpectedly turned into an exhibition. We were all asked to display our work on the desks and go round in line formation to view each one. I then noticed that everyone stopped at my desk and that of two other boys who even I knew were really gifted artists. I panicked and thought there was something wrong with my potrait; when instead the reason my classmates stopped, pointed at it, whispered and looked back at me, was because they actually believed someone else had drawn it for me....Apparently it was that good. Who'd have...