Born in the late 1940s in Kenya’s Kiambu County, Morris Foit grew up amidst the tensions of the country’s state of emergency. Baptised Joseph Morris Njau Mung’othi, he renamed himself ‘Foit’ out of respect for his patron, Francis M. Foit, a Czech who had come to the country to teach sculpture at Kenyatta University.
Foit’s first works were crudely carved, but they show the artist’s thorough knowledge of his materials as well as his understanding of the human predicament. He has since worked diligently to refine his techniques, broaden his repertoire of figures and enlarge the scale of his art. One of his larger commissioned sculptures is made of ferrocement and situated in Jeevanjee Gardens, Nairobi. It was inspired by the birth of a child that the artist witnessed in the park on a visit to sketch a design for the public space. Amazed at the sight, he immediately decided that a sculpture to the unknown baby would be a fitting homage to the event.