Mativo’s work is deeply rooted in the layered urban narrative of Nairobi, drawing upon the city’s intricate and contrasting architectural landscape. As both an observer and participant, Mativo infuses expressive figurative paintings, mixed media works, and works on paper with the tension between progress and marginalization. Through an intuitive process marked by experimental, emotive mark-making, Mativo captures the physical and emotional realities of residents navigating a city where modern infrastructure and informal settlements coalesce in a fragile balance. Nairobi’s highways, bridges, and transit systems may attempt to stitch the city together, but the sprawl of informal economies and slums tells a parallel story of resilience and adaptation.

In his practice, Mativo reveals the pulse of Nairobi’s socio-economic duality—an East African hub teeming with ambition yet defined by stark disparities. The coexistence of luxury developments and makeshift kiosks underscores a cityscape where wealth and poverty share the same streets. Each composition reflects these layered contradictions, embodying the exchanges between formal and informal economies that breathe life into the city’s vibrant yet complex fabric. The process of layering, scraping, and reworking within his art mirrors the city’s dynamic nature—spaces that speak of both hope and systemic neglect. Through these explorations, Mativo invites a dialogue on who is included in the narrative of progress and who remains on its margins.

At the core of Mativo’s work are the stories of those navigating Nairobi’s built environment, mapping the tensions between tradition and modernity, survival and disenfranchisement. His experimental mark-making is more than a technique; it is a testament to the lived experience of Nairobi’s residents, constantly negotiating identity and space within a city in perpetual flux. With a layered, instinctive approach, Mativo creates art that resonates with the broader African urban experience, offering a deeply personal yet universally relevant commentary on architecture, space, and the human spirit.

Mativo is a graduate of creative Entrepreneurship by the Godown Arts Centre with a background in Architecture from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and also completed the networked course CopyrightX that explores the current law of copyright and the ongoing debates concerning how that law should be reformed offered by Harvard Law School courtesy of the GoDown Arts Centre.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

• 2023 “MIRROR MIRROR -The Portraits of being Alive,” Alliance Francaise, Nairobi, Kenya.
• 2023 “BURIED BUTTERFLIES,” Montague Contemporary, New York NY USA.
• 2024 “OPEN YOUR EYE,” Tribal Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

• 2021 “The Yellow Series” Noir Gallery, Nairobi Kenya.
• 2022 “Affordable Art Show” The National Museum of Nairobi, by Kenya Museum Society.
• 2022 “Tiny Christmas Works 2022” One Off Contemporary Gallery, Nairobi Kenya.
• 2023 “African Abstraction II” Montague Contemporary, New York NY USA.
• 2023 “ArtAffair 23” One Off Contemporary Gallery, Nairobi Kenya.
• 2023 “Africa Speak -54”  ZeeArts Gallery, Mauritius.
• 2023 “Behind This Face 2 – Echoes of the Past.” Gravitart Gallery, Nairobi Kenya
• 2024 “A Tapestry of Contemporary African Art.” Patchogue Arts Council • Museum of Contemporary Art, Long Island in collaboration with Montague Contemporary

SELECTED COMMISSIONS

• 2022 “The Tree” – 150cm x 180cm, Commonwealth Secretariat Talent and Cocktail event under the patronage of the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, Commonwealth Secretary General in celebration of Black History Month on the 28th of October 2022.