reconnecting

This installation explores the powerful imaginaries of the lions of Tsavo, the man-eaters who brought the Kenya-Uganda railway to a halt in 1898. That two lions could interfere in this key British imperial infrastructure project provoked international debate. Since 1925, the taxidermied lions have been housed at the Field Museum in Chicago where, despite hopes to have them returned to Kenya, they remain until today. 

Over decades, their story has been narrated, in popular books and films, as part of a heroic white man narrative. But how is it remembered and told in Kenya today? For whom is it significant and for what does it stand? Indeed, what would the lions trigger if they were brought back to Kenya? Built on "vox populi" collected in downtown Nairobi, Simba Mbili attempts to re-understand the contemporary relevance of this seemingly tired imperial-era story.