Rendille Doko Kenya

NOT FOR SALE

80 x 80 cm  –  Oil on canvas

The Rendille mainly live in the extremely hot, dry and desolate Chalbi Desert, south east of Lake Turkana. In Northern Kenya they also live with and among the Samburu, and may be differentiated from the Samburu with their different bead decorations and sometimes their hair styles.

This Rendille lady is painted from one of my father’s old sepia photos taken in the 1950s in the Chalbi Desert. I looked for the right colors to use for the decorations and love the result as well as the expression of this lady living in such harsh desert conditions. The head-dress she is wearing is called a “doko” and indicates this lady has a first born son. It is made by plaiting her hair into a “cock” form and covering it with animal fat and ocre until this shape is formed. She will only shave it off when her son is circumcised, if he dies, or if her husband dies. A cultural practice of the past no longer worn ?