The Art Piece

The life and movement of Mama Kali, a female lion in the Maasai Mara, rendered as data architecture. This sculpture, created by Daria Smakhtina, traces five months of the life of this lion, one of four female members of the Olololo Pride, with the sculpture’s vertical dimension reflecting the animal’s patterns of movement over time.

The Lion

The collared adult female and her Olololo/Angama pride mostly stayed inside the Mara Triangle, but they also travelled beyond its boundaries, overlapping homesteads and crossing the Mara River on several occasions, and venturing near areas where human activity is high. Although the majority of the home range was spent within the Mara Triangle, a portion of it was situated outside, and 5.7% of the time the female was wearing the collar was spent outside the Triangle.

The Collection

Tracing The Wild is built from data reflecting the biosocial interactions and
coexistence of lions and human communities in the Mara, and is intended as a way to express the life of these rare predators who are tracked and protected by the innovative conservation organisation Kenya Wildlife Trust.

Nairobi Design Week 2023 Exhibition

This exhibition shines a light on Kenya Wildlife Trust's crucial work stewarding the predator ecosystem of the Mara, and 50% proceeds from sales of all Tracing The Wild artworks benefits Kenya Wildlife Trust’s work directly, with 30% going to the artists and 10% to Nairobi Design and 10% to Sovereign Nature Initiative.