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Thandiwe Muriu

location: Nairobi, Kenya

Thandiwe Muriu is a Kenyan artist known for creating surreal illusions in a unique mix of vibrant textiles, cultural practices, and beauty ideologies. Working with the kitenge fabric, a distinct African cloth, she makes her subjects both disappear and serve as a canvas of reflection to the questions of womanhood, identity and its evolution over time. Her illusions are completed by handmade accessories, constructed from reimagined objects associated with Kenyan daily life. Merging history and the present, Muriu pairs each work with an African proverb, expressing the collected oral wisdom of generations past even as she communicates culture in a visual form.

Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Thandiwe discovered photography at age 14, experimenting with her father's old Nikon camera. Self-taught, she immersed herself in books and video tutorials, learning from every resource she could find, as Kenya did not have any formal photography schools. By age 17, she was working professionally, and by 23 had shot her first solo advertising campaign. By 2019, she was photographing campaigns for some of the largest companies in East Africa.

As the sole woman operating in the male-dominated advertising photography industry in Kenya, Thandiwe repeatedly confronted questions around the role of women in society, the place of tradition, and her own self-perception. These experiences inspired her first work, the Camo series, a project of cultural reflection. Camo was the catalyst for her to push new boundaries in her photography, leading her into a deeply personal artistic journey.

Even though she is still a young artist, Thandiwe is a rising star of contemporary photography. Her works are part of significant museum and public collections like Collection Gervanne + Matthias Leridon, Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, and UHODA Collection, as well as being a Rockefeller Foundation Residency alumni, among others.

She currently resides in Nairobi, Kenya where she teaches workshops and regularly travels for assignments.


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