Awuor Onyango is a Nairobi-based writer, artist, photographer, filmmaker and gallerist. Her practice is concerned with claiming public space disallowed to people considered black, woman and other, whether the space is intellectual, physical, in memory or Historical. She’s currently exploring the transgression, shame and discomfort of the black feminine.
Projects
- Visibility is a trap I was interested in intimacy outside of the sexual act,outside of the sexual and erotic, intimacy as the opposite of loneliness, a communal intimacy of sorts. I ventured to create something around Foucault’s interior androgyny and hermaphrodism of the soul, that which created the homosexual out of the sodomite, a kind of Kenyan queer semiology. This led me to explore what drag meant to Jamie and what psychological androgyny meant to Naddya while waxing my favourite queers, Frida Kahlo, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Audre Lourde… The fractal mirror denotes my nod to Foucault’s “Visibility is a trap” which is ultimately the name of the project. While being obsessed with how Nairobi queers navigate Nairobi in this space of being seen only as far as heteronormatively allowed I wanted to celebrate the space we have to reinvent ourselves within our own circles. That’s why the images are named after discarded names that my friends and I no longer use.
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Projects credited in
- Championing Diversity: Meet the LGBT+ Creative Leaders of TomorrowWhilst diversity in the Creative Industries is flourishing, there’s still tracks to be made towards equality and inclusivity for all. Discover fresh ideas from people changing perspectives for the better, as nominated by 8 creative icons from across the globe, brought together by WeTransfer and The Dots.50
Skills
- Creative Arts
- African Art
- Art and Creative Direction
- Art Blogger
- Art Installations
- Photography
- Abobe Indesign/photoshop/illustrator
- Art Photography
- Creative Documentary