I had no idea Rangi existed until it popped up on my Instagram feed. It seemed that nobody else knew it existed too. What a shame they have so little marketing because it’s a wonderful place and in a central location in the middle of Masaki.
Located next to the CCBRT hospital, the gallery is in a tall white house set in tidy leafy grounds. The sign is visible from the road but how many times I must have gone past it and not noticed. There is a lack of art galleries here. You cannot count the tinga tinga art market as that’s just cheap tourist tat.
Rangi gallery has a variety of art from emerging and established local artists. Saturday was the opening of a new exhibition so I got my friend and went along to the launch. An hour after opening it was well-attended and seemed to feature around a dozen artists. Some were clearly more established than others but it was good to see them hanging side by side on the walls.
Surprisingly there were no prices or evidence that they were for sale although I’m pretty sure the artists would have been happy to sell them. Was this an oversight or a conscious decision not to sell the art? I went with the expectation of maybe picking up a piece and supporting a local artist.
The building was clearly at one time I fantastic house but makes a fabulous gallery on three floors with exposed rock in the cellar. Tables with white cloths were spread out in the garden and there was a quiet confidence about the place.
Exhibiting artists chatted to visitors and overall it was an unexpected but surprisingly good gallery, hidden away behind a high wall on a busy road. We need more of this in Dar es Salaam where the only alternative seems to be Nafasi Art Space which is far from an inspiring art space. It resembles a dumping ground for old containers and homeless failed artists with their amateurish efforts.
Forget a visit there in favour of a proper gallery which does in fact inspire and give hope to young and emerging artists in Tanzania.