Invisible Conversations

Nest Collective members Njoki Ngumi and Jim Chuchu host supplementary audio conversations about works presented by the collective at the ongoing Invisible Inventories exhibition in Nairobi, Cologne and Frankfurt.

We Were Just Exploring
Of National Importance
Value Addition


We Were Just Exploring: Collector Biographies

In which we highlight the life histories of persons named as collectors and/or donators of objects in the database (such as have been named), and consider their presence in Kenya, their object interests and how these interests shaped the ways in which Kenya is archived in museums.

1. Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (1903–1972)

2. William Scoresby Routledge (1859–1939) and Katherine Maria Routledge (1866–1935)

3. Dr. William John Ansorge (1850–1913)

4. Col. Richard Meinertzhagen (1878–1967)


Of National Importance

In which we examine objects that have been listed as objects of national importance in presidential directives, meaning that they are objects whose repatriation the Government of Kenya is actively seeking.

1. The Lions of Tsavo

2. The Head of Koitalel arap Samoei

3. The Ngadji Drum of the Pokomo

4. Kiti Cha Enzi from the Kingdom of Witu

5. Orrorin Tugenensis / The Millenium Man


Values and Materials

In which we compare the financial values of objects (acquisition price, institutional value and insurance value) and consider the effect of movement, acquisition and contemporary availability on this value, and consider the constituent materials that the objects are made of.