Jonathan Sölanke Gathaara Fraser’s practice is an ode to curiosity, to care, and to paying close attention to the world around him. For the last 5 years, he has been using drawing, and more recently sound and installation, as a kind of auxiliary sense with which to observe and record his environment. For his second solo at Circle, the artist invites us to share in the experience of paying close and careful attention, stepping into observation through embodiment; a departure from the usual intellectualization of our experiences of artwork and the world around us.

Fraser has extensively exhibited in group shows in Nairobi, most recently 2025’s Notes on Friendship: Breaking Bread, a group show organized jointly by the Nairobi Contemporary Arts Institute (NCAI, Kenya) and Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art, Tamale (SCCA, Ghana). In 2021, his first solo exhibition, There Is A Time and A Place, was held at Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi.

He studied Fine Art at Kenyatta University, and counts his experiences as a studio assistant as well as local workshops toward his art education. He was in residency at 32º East in Kampala in 2023, and in 2025, will be in residency in Zurich facilitated by Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council.