The NGO sector in Kenya plays a significant, and symbolically important role within the country and the region. Issues of Charity, Development and Aid are however neither straightforward, nor without a certain set of problems.

NGO logos seem to distill the iconography but also the assumptions and expectations of the NGO industry. To take one example - the logo of the Baptist Aids Response Agency in Africa, a registered Kenyan NGO, depicts Africa as a human head crying a tear of blood. Similarly but less dramatic: why do we have organisations in Kenya called ‘Hope’ and ‘Concern’?

As a visual artist I do not have the expertise to comment on the efficacy of the NGO project. But as someone who works with representation I am interested in inquiring into this NGO aesthetic. By mixing real logos of real organizations with fake logos of organizations that do not exist my idea is to introduce an element of doubt into the viewer so s/he is not sure which are real. Hence when you look at organizations called ‘Hope’, ‘Concern’, ‘Hope for the African Child Initiative’, ‘Empathi’ maybe you wonder, can these be real names?

Thanks to: Pony Pedro Silk Screen Workshop, Goethe Institut Nairobifull project