Former Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor's poem "Femme Noire" celebrates the beauty and strength of Black women - from his mother to his wife and daughter, to all the women of his home country.
Written while he was imprisoned in Germany during World War II, the poem is an ode to all the women, symbols of hope, freedom and belonging, the author longed to return to.
Seattle Art Museum moved from this poem for its exhibition "Femme Noire" (until 30th September). Organized in collaboration with Chicago-based blackpuffin and Seattle's own Wa Na Wari, the project develops in various locations across the Central District - from lamp poles to Black-owned businesses and arts organizations - to engage the community in a public dialogue.
"Femme Noire" features works by women artists from Africa and the African diaspora. One of the artists included is Thandiwe Muriu, a Kenyan photographer.
Born and raised in Nairobi, Muriu became interested in photography when she was 14. She self-trained on books and the Internet and started working as a professional photographer three years later.
Introduced to advertising photography, she shot her first solo advertising campaign when she was in her early 20s. From 2019 Muriu transitioned into fine art photography and since then her works have appeared in major exhibitions all over the world, while she also created advertising shots for some of the biggest companies in East Africa.
In her first capsule series entitled "Universal Truths", the photographer analysed the experiences that connect us all as human beings exploring themes such as Ascension, Brotherhood, Unity and Discord. In that series, Muriu also started exploring the vibrant and lively world of African textiles.
She continued this exploration in "Material Culture", a body of work inspired by the elaborate, rich headwraps donned by her mother at special events and at church services. In her series the headwraps become regal symbols, almost crowns and her subjects turn into solemn figures surrounded by an aura of power.
In this series Muriu continued the exploration of the visual power of fabrics and perfected it in her "Camo" series that she started in 2015. This series challenges cultural norms and celebrates African heritage.
In this series her subjects, wearing designs that perfectly match the background seem to disappear in the image.
But it is exactly in this surreal act of disappearance that they end up emerging in full glory; by picturing the subjects against these vibrant backdrops, the viewer's focus is indeed drawn to the women's faces, hair, and hands. In the images the photographer also defies preferences for lighter skin tones, highlighting the beauty of dark-skinned Black women.
The images can therefore be interpreted as new versions of contemporary African portraiture, but also as celebrations of strong and independent women that affirm themselves through their personalities, architectural hairstyles, clothes and accessories.
Each photograph is accompanied by a proverb: for example, Muriu's image entitled "Camo 23" is defined by the proverb "He who is destined for power does not have to fight for it". The photograph portrays a strong, confident woman gazing into the lens, and sporting a hairstyle integrating five fisted coloured hands, a silent yet firm reference to the gentle power of a woman who is confident in herself.
The compositions are extremely complex and Muriu works like a Vogue editor (the fashion magazine was actually an inspiration when she was a teenager): Muriu first explores fabric shops in Nairobi looking for intricate and mesmerizing textile patterns characterized by bold colours and a distinct visual appeal.
Then she researches traditional hairstyles across Africa and tries to find ways to reinterpret or exaggerate them: just like J.D.'Okhai Ojeikere documented the elaborate hairstyles and head wrappings of Nigerian women, Muriu looks at hair to explore the anthropological, social and fashion values of different hairstyles, and she then adds a fashionable and fun twist to her researches.
In one image the long braids of her model, caught in motion, look like jump ropes or like Rupunzel's tresses, and represent the enlongated braids that the artist and her sisters would have liked to have as kids.
Muriu amplifies traditional Kenyan hairstyles and uses them to push back against Western beauty standards: some images are accompanied by proverbs that emphasise the importance of hair and reveal Muriu's dedication to preserving and celebrating cultural standards of beauty that she believes are at risk of being forgotten.
"When your sister does your hair, you do not need a mirror," recites one African Proverb that Muriu employs to refer to the way women empower each other in Africa by freely giving a helping hand or word of advice when needed. "When a woman goes to get her hair done, she sits indeed at the heart of a semicircle of women who all braid her hair", the photographer explains in the notes to the image.
Another image (Camo 2.0 4415 - that won Muriu an award at the 2021 edition of Female in Focus) shows a woman wearing multi-coloured beads in her hair and is accompanied by the proverb "Beauty and greatness do not belong to the gods alone". Muriu explains on her site that the image celebrates the rich history of wearing beads as part of adornment in Africa, for both beauty and to symbolize messages of status and age group in one glance - without speaking a word.
The hair of another model is decorated with bottle caps from drinks found around Kenya. The photographer uses them to point at traditions and at the fact that soft drinks are often used during cultural events, most notably during the Kikuyu pre-wedding meetings of families. "At these cultural events, a girl will pour a soft drink for her suitor after dowry negotiations to symbolize that she is agreeable to marrying him," Muriu explains. "If a girl refuses to pour a drink for her suitor when requested to do so by her father, she is indicating she does not want to marry."
Accessories are also an integral part of the composition and Muriu often makes them upcycling found objects, a way to emphasize Kenyans' resourcefulness, but also to point at women's strength. Combs, for instance, are to be interpreted as symbols of power.
"To every woman, hair is her crowning glory, making the combs (...) a symbolic celebration of the strength, shine and curl of African hair," she explain (visit Muriu's site and read the descriptions to the images as they are very inspiring and will provide you with some insights on Kenyan culture).
While Muriu creates the accessories, dressmakers and tailors in Nairobi make the garments she designs for the models. In brief, creating an image for Muriu is more like making a painting.
Symbolically the "Camo" series also hints at Muriu's condition: as a woman working in Kenya's male-dominated advertising photography industry, she addresses questions about women's roles and tradition and the fact that you have to be strong to fight against the challenges and obstacles that come with breaking gender barriers.
Expect Muriu to be picked in future by the fashion industry for advertising campaigns or for collaborations (can we have T-shirts with her vivid, eye-popping images, please?). In the meantime, try to catch some of the exhibitions she's featured in this year or next year when her works will also be part of the Biennale of Female Photography in Mantua, Italy (check out the updated list of events she'll take part in at this link).
Image credits for this post
All images by and copyright Thandiwe Muriu, Courtesy of Thandiwe Muriu & 193 Gallery
1. Ascension (2022)
2. In Full Bloom (2022)
3. Camo 23 (2021)
4. Camo 11 (2021)
5. Camo 34 (2022)
6. Camo 2.0 4322 (2018)
7. Camo 27 (2021)
8. Camo 2.0 4415 (2018)
9. Camo 2.0 4452 (2018)
10. Camo 49 (2022)
11. Our Collective Beauty (2022)
12. It takes Imagination (2022)
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