Thandiwe Muriu

Thandiwe Muriu is a Kenyan artist who examines themes of female empowerment, identity, belonging and cultural heritage through her work. Her pieces are inspired by textile narratives, primarily the Ankara (Wax) and the East African Kanga fabric, which she uses as a canvas to redefine, celebrate, and remember.

Born in Nairobi, where she still lives and works, Muriu discovered photography at age 14 as she experimented with her father’s camera. Self-taught, childhood innovation trained Muriu to recognize creative possibility in the ordinary, a perspective that continues to shape her artistic approach to this day. In her early twenties, she successfully established a career as a professional advertising photographer in Kenya even as she grappled with societal expectations surrounding the role of women. From this experience, she developed her foundational artistic voice leading to her first series, Camo.

Through Wax, a widely accepted symbol of ‘Africanness’, and other textiles, Muriu turns to the social vocabulary of using cloth as a tool of expression. Her subjects blend into patterned fabric backgrounds yet remain in undeniable focus, creating a tension between visibility and erasure. Muriu draws on and archives history, using elements that are often overlooked or undervalued; oral traditions, everyday life, and domestic objects - to reveal different perspectives. The blend of historical references and contemporary aesthetics become tools harnessed by Muriu as she contemplates how individuals and communities can thrive, not in spite of cultural legacies, but within them.

In 2020, she participated in her first international exhibition, Colors of Africa, at 193 Gallery in Paris. Her work has since been presented at the 60th Venice Biennale Collateral Event Passengers in Transit (presented by the Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos), a solo show at New York University I Am Because You Are, as well by Perrotin Gallery as part of the exhibition FEMMES! curated by Pharrell Williams. Other institutional exhibitions include Musée de l’Homme in Paris (WAX!), Museum Folkwang in Essen (Grow It, Show It! A Look at Hair from Diane Arbus to TikTok), and Wereldmuseum Rotterdam (Art She Crafted). She also regularly exhibits at contemporary art fairs in the USA, Europe, Asia and Central America.

In 2024, she published Camo, her first monograph, and was a recipient of the Global Focus Project Award (Xposure International Festival, Sharjah). Within the same year, she participated in the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Residency Program, investigating the East African Kanga as part of her ongoing research for Woven Voices. In 2025, she completed residencies with the National Museums of Kenya, as well as the Kyotographie African Artist Residency, introducing a new chapter to her works in Kyoto, Japan. In 2027, Muriu will present an exhibition at the Franz Meyer Museum, Mexico City.

Since the commencement of her artistic career in 2020, Muriu’s work has been acquired by private and public collections such as Photo Élysée Museum (Lausanne, Switzerland), the Hood Museum of Art (New Hampshire, USA), North Carolina Museum of Art (North Carolina, USA), The UNESCO Art Collection, The Leridon Collection, The Jean Pigozzi African Art Collection, Peter & Carla Schulting Collection, amongst others. Some notable commissions include projects for Longchamp, the United Nations, Apple, and the Swiss Red Cross.