Elkana Ong'esa

Elkana Ong’esa (1944-2024) was a Kenyan soapstone carver. He is considered one of Kenya's most lauded sculptors, and his work is featured outside of buildings across the globe, such as the Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, and the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Early life and education Ong’esa was born in 1944 in Tabaka, a region in Kisii, Kenya famous for soapstone carving. He was introduced to carving as a child when his father created a car for him. That inspired him to start working with various materials like clay and small pieces of stone, and he learned how to use his fingers to work with tools. As a young person, he liked carving birds. Ong'esa began developing a more modern sculpting style and made abstract art and bigger forms.

After receiving an award upon entering an art competition in 1965, his teacher Ms. Janet Green proceeded to assist him to form an art club at his school, where he was appointed chairman. This would also see him drop his ambition of becoming a doctor. After high school, a letter arrived from the ministry of Local Government in Nairobi inviting Ong'esa to study accounting. He was just about to leave for Nairobi when a letter arrived at his secondary school, informing him that he had won a place at Makerere University.

Ong'esa went on to get his bachelor’s degree from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda where he studied painting and sculpting at Margaret Trowel School of Fine Arts.

In art school, he learned about materials and techniques that weren't part of the traditional culture he’d grown up in. He also learned modeling, printing and how to work with ceramics and glass. After his Fine Arts degree from Makerere, Ong'esa taught Art at Kisii High School. He obtained his Master of Education degree in Teaching of Arts from McGill University in Canada in 1985.

Awards Onge'sa received his first award in 1965 at 21 years of age when, at the encouragement of his teacher of English, Ms. Janet Green, he entered an art competition organized by the Kenya Freedom from Hunger Campaign to commemorate its achievements since independence. Ongesa’s submission to the competition was his very first soapstone carving titled Daily Bread. It depicted a human eating maize on the cob. It scooped the first prize in the sculptors’ category.

While at Makerere University, Ong'esa received numerous awards. The first one, Sculptor of the Year, came through his all-time favorite carving of a man landing on the moon—now standing at an FBI building in the United States—while he was still a first-year student.

Personal life In October 2021, Ong'esa lost his wife, Elvinah, who had been ailing for years. He sought counsel and comfort from fellow artists and their experiences of grief. That season produced the piece Lala Toto Lala, a black granite sculpture of a child lying on their mum's bosom, which he said, depicted the relationship he had with his wife. On the back side, the sculpture has a rough texture to show what became of his life after his wife's death.

Ong'esa, who lived in Kapsoya, Eldoret for a while, moved back to his hometown of Tabaka in Kisii to be nearer his studio, and to seek advanced cancer care at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital. He died on Thursday, November 28th, 2024.