It all started with a show by Austrian artists at the Alliance Française in Nairobi in March 2006. Drawing from their different perspectives, the artists from Vienna (Barbara Husar, Michael Lampert, Alexander Nikolić and Lukas Pusch), and Sam Hopkins, based in Nairobi met with the residents of Mathare, a slum of 500,000 people in Nairobi. In meeting with the residents, the need for an authentic story highlighting the lives and times of the residents was mooted and slowly developed. After numerous interviews, of the different stories from the different artists’ perspectives, a documentary fusing the different stories was developed. It was, in essence, the very first general test for what would be slum tv and therefore sought to very authentically speak to the real-life stories of the residents of Mathare slums. In the words of SLUM TV co-founders, the vision and values continue to drive our narrative because after all – from it did we arise!!
