Kawira Mwirichia

Kawira Mwirichia is a queer artist and curator from Kenya currently living in Athi River. She is a multi-disciplinary artist known internationally for her kangas along with more traditional fine arts mediums such as painting, drawing, and sculpture.

Kawira Mwirichia
EducationBSc. Civil Engineering, University of Nairobi;
Known forArt, illustration curator
Websitehttps://kalacompany.com/

Early life and education

Kawira Mwirichia was born in 1986. She lives in Athi River, Kenya.

She received her Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Nairobi (Aug 2007 – Dec 2012).[1] Through the Astraea Commslab, Mwirichia took a course for online LGBTQI activism. Her formal art training came from graphic & web design courses at the Institute of Advanced Technology as well as Nairobi Institute of Business Studies.

Career

To Revolutionary Type Love

Kawira Mwirichia[2] aims to create Kangas for all 196 countries of the world[3][4] The design of each Kanga is inspired by that country's historical moments in their fight for LGBT rights.[4] As of 2017, 37 of Africa's 57 countries criminalize homosexual acts.[2]

Kangas are traditional East African cotton textiles with Swahili sayings on them.[2][3][5] One of the uses of Kangas is a part of marriage ceremony, where it is laid out on the ground to receive the bride and take her to the wedding, or receive and celebrate the wedded couple.[4]

"In Nairobi, Kenya, there are two different art scenes," artist and activist Kawira Mwirichia explains. "There is the so-called Masai market which draws on traditional crafts and tribal customs, and there is the contemporary art scene, of 'people who are experimenting with other ways of expression.'[4] To Revolutionary Type Love, creates a dialogue between these two creative worlds, as she uses traditional textiles to create contemporary Art.[4]

The exhibitions are presented with work from other artists.

Lez Ka-lour!: A Lesbian KamaSutra Colouring Book

A ten-page colouring book of Lesbian KamaSutra positions by Kawira Mwirichia.[6]

Exhibitions
  • To Revolutionary Type Love, Iwaleawahaus at Bayreuth University, 30 June – 30 September 2018
  • To Revolutionary Type Love, University of Art HBK, Braunschweig, Germany, June 2018
  • ‘27"hosted by the National Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission Shifteye Studios, Nairobi, November 2017[7]
  • To Revolutionary Type Love, Goethe Institute, Nairobi, Kenya May 2017
  • Jinsiangu’s Bodies Unbound, British Institute in Eastern Africa, 2015[8]
  • Girl Art Project, GoDown Arts Center, Nairobi, 2011[8]
  • 2010 See Us Hear Us Art Festival, Liberty Hall Pangani, Nairobi
  • 2010 Changing Faces Changing Spaces Conference, Hilton Hotel, Nairobi
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References
  1. "Kawira Mwirichia". The Dots.
  2. Lichtenstein, Amanda (18 August 2017). "A Kenyan Artist Designs Revolutionary 'Kanga' Celebrating Queer Love Around the World · Global Voices". Global Voices. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  3. "Championne et gagnante diversité: découvrez l'artiste Kawira Mwirichia et ses khangas engagés". OWDIN (in French). 18 September 2017.
  4. "I have seen my beauty. I have been shown my beauty". WePresent. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  5. Wilfried, EK (28 December 2017). "A la découverte de l'artiste Kawira Mwirichia et de ses Khangas engagées – WYAT Magazine". Wyat-mag.com (in French).
  6. Mwirichia, Ms Kawira (5 December 2015). Lez Ka-lour!: A Lesbian KamaSutra Colouring Book. ASIN 151965278X.
  7. Michael, Soi (10 November 2017). 27 (PDF) (vol 1 No. 1 ed.). Nairobi: National Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
  8. "Kawira Mwirichia – Medienwissenschaften BS". mewi.hbk-bs.de (in German). Retrieved 23 June 2018.
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