Tinga Tinga paintings from East Africa. African Art

If you visit souvenir markets in Mombasa, Nairobi or Dar es Salaam, you will see some stalls with colorful paintings. There are Tinga Tinga. Pictures named after Eduardo Tinga Tinga.

Eduardo Said Tinga Tinga was born in Mozambique in 1937. He moved to Tanzania at age of 18.

Eduardo started to paint pictures of animals and people during his work on buildings sites. Soon his naive style was widely recognizable among dwellers and foreign residents in Dar es Salaam.

In the 1970's his paintings' style was followed by many local artists. Zanzibar became touristy mecca. Many holidaymakers left Africa with suitable souvenirs: paintigs of game animals or Masai warriors with Kilimanjaro background behind.

Today Tinga Tinga pictures belong to main stream of visual art in East Africa. The artists still use vibrant colors and enrich Eduardo's legacy by adoption of suahili features.