codominance Martin Mbuguah erasure Martin Mbuguah a moment of bliss Martin Mbuguah the sound of your name Martin Mbuguah a suicide in the forest of red moons Martin Mbuguah MARTIN MBUGUAH, also known as TOSKAGO, is a visual artist from Ol'Kalou, Kenya who moved to the U.S. at age seven when his family won the green card lottery. He is a 2020 graduate of South Side High School and currently attends the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), studying Painting, Business, Film. Since beginning to paint just a few years ago, Martin's paintings and drawings have earned many prestigious honors, including multiple national Gold and Silver Medals as well as the best-in-show American Visions Medal in the Scholastic Awards. He was selected as a finalist and received the coveted Gold Award from the National YoungArts Foundation and was named a semifinalist for U.S. Presidential Scholars, placing him among the top 600 high school seniors and top 30 artists in the nation. In the summer of 2020, Martin held his first solo exhibition. He is currently an inaugural artist-in-residence at Start Fort Wayne and preparing to create a mural this summer. Through his work, Martin has built an interconnected world to address themes of loss, drug abuse, and the modern-day experiences of immigrants and people of color. This endeavor is compounded by Martin's main goal of embodying the notion of a "people's brush," lending his brush and ability to tell the stories of others in a journey to cull loneliness by immortalizing the experiences of individuals. In addition to paintings and drawings, Martin is exploring new ways of moving this story into music, sculpture, and film. You can find more of his work at toskago.com and @toskago on Instagram.
