Kawira Mwirichia | |
---|---|
Education | BSc. Civil Engineering, University of Nairobi; |
Known for | Art, illustration curator |
Website | https://kalacompany.com/ |
Kawira Mwirichia (died 2020) [1] was a queer artist and curator from Kenya who lived in Athi River. She was a multi-disciplinary artist known internationally for her kangas along with more traditional fine arts mediums such as painting, drawing, and sculpture.
Kawira Mwirichia was born in 1986. She lived in Athi River, Kenya.[ citation needed ] She died and was laid to rest in November 2020. She received her Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Nairobi (Aug 2007 – Dec 2012). [2] 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.
Kawira Mwirichia [3] aimed to create Kangas for all 196 countries of the world [4] [5] The design of each Kanga is inspired by that country's historical moments in their fight for LGBT rights. [5] As of 2017, 37 of Africa's 57 countries criminalize homosexual acts. [3]
Kangas are traditional East African cotton textiles with Swahili sayings on them. [3] [4] [6] 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. [5]
"In Nairobi, Kenya, there are two different art scenes," artist and activist Kawira Mwirichia explained. "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.' [5] To Revolutionary Type Love, creates a dialogue between these two creative worlds, as she used traditional textiles to create contemporary Art. [5]
The exhibitions are presented with work from other artists.
A ten-page colouring book of Lesbian KamaSutra positions by Kawira Mwirichia. [7]
The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the Kama Sutra is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions, but rather was written as a guide to the art of living well, the nature of love, finding a life partner, maintaining one's love life, and other aspects pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life. It is a sutra-genre text with terse aphoristic verses that have survived into the modern era with different bhāṣyas. The text is a mix of prose and anustubh-meter poetry verses. The text acknowledges the Hindu concept of Purusharthas, and lists desire, sexuality, and emotional fulfillment as one of the proper goals of life. Its chapters discuss methods for courtship, training in the arts to be socially engaging, finding a partner, flirting, maintaining power in a married life, when and how to commit adultery, sexual positions, and other topics. The majority of the book is about the philosophy and theory of love, what triggers desire, what sustains it, and how and when it is good or bad.
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