Doodle For Google Nairobi Exhibition

There has been concern that young people in Kenya are missing out when it comes to exposure to the arts. This is however, not only a Kenyan concern as governments world-over slash budgets that were geared towards the arts. Any initiative that works towards having more young people showcase their talent is a welcomed one. One of these initiatives is the Doodle 4 Google (D4G) competition.

D4G is a competition in which Google invites students, 6-18 years old, to reinvent Google’s homepage logo. Art and technology are brought together to encourage children to get creative both online and offline. To date, the competition has been run in over 30 countries all over the world.

The first Kenyan D4G competition was launched in 2013. The competition’s theme was ‘My Kenya’ and celebrated the Jubilee Year. There were 5000 submissions from young Kenyans from all over the country and 13,000 votes on the Kenyan D4G site which saw 17 year old Esther Wambui Githinji become the national winner. Her doodle, ‘’Feet of Gold’’ was featured on the Google Kenya homepage on Mashujaa day 2013.

Following the D4G competition, there is a gallery exhibition at the Nairobi National Museum Aga Khan Hall showcasing the top 100 ‘My Kenya’ doodles. The exhibition runs from 5^th May to 31^st May 2014.