Kawira Mwirichia’s Queer Flags

Kenyan artist and activist Kawira Mwirichia is empowering queer communities across the world with her international flag series.

---

Cover photo: Botswana Kanga Flag (“Let go of all the hate and ignorance and you’ll surprise yourself!"), by Kawira Mwirichia (2017). Via the artist’s website.

---

This article is part of my 30 Living Queer Artists Worth Celebrating in 2019 series. June is Pride Month, commemorating the international gay rights movement that began June 28th, 1969, with the Stonewall riots of New York. 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the event. I’m celebrating all month long!

---

Kawira Mwirichia posing with her Benin Kanga Flag (2019. Via the artist’s Instagram.

Kawira Mwirichia

Nairobi-born artist and activist Kawira Mwirichia is working to empower queer communities all over the world, specifically Kenya. Mwirichia is best known for her kanga flag series, To Revolutionary Type Love, which she began in 2017.

Mwirichia explains, “My work focuses on getting us, as a community, to a place where we are proud of ourselves and are full of self-love. Being in that place would allow us to live in an open way. And that would affect society around us because it would be easier for other people to relate to us. It might change your neighbor or your friend or the village where you come from if they see you living your life happily and openly. They might realize that queer people are not just these fictional things they think the West made up.”

---

Benin Kanga Flag (“They say love is blind, but I can see mine"), by Kawira Mwirichia (2017). Via the artist’s website.

Burkina Faso Kanga Flag (“Out of place out there shouldn’t have me not fit in within"), by Kawira Mwirichia (2017). Via the artist’s website.

South Africa Kanga Flag (“Black and white are not the colours of love. They never were"), by Kawira Mwirichia (2017). Via the artist’s website.

To Revolutionary Type Love

Mwirichia’s latest project, To Revolutionary Type Love, is a celebration of the global queer community, through the medium of traditional east African kangas. Kangas are versatile cotton cloths which feature colorful patterns and Swahili sayings.

Each flag incorporates the country’s queer history and activism. For instance, South Africa’s kanga, features Simon Nkoli, an anti-apartheid, gay rights, and AIDS activist.

“I was inspired to start the project after attending a friend’s wedding. According to my friend’s cultural background, the groom’s family went to the bride’s home to pick her up and take her to her new home. They led her out of the home and placed kangas on the ground for her to walk over as they were singing and welcoming her to her new family,” Mwirichia recalls.

She continues, “it hit me that this gesture wouldn’t be experienced by queer people in Kenya because of homophobia. The fact that straight people get to have their love celebrated so openly and so freely by their family, and yet we have to hide who we are really moved me.”

“I thought we could celebrate ourselves by creating our own kangas with our stories written on them and lay them out for ourselves. I want to create a kanga to represent every country in the world, and I take suggestions for the designs and text that go on the kangas.”

Mwirichia has an ambitious goal: “In five years, I’d want the kangas that are a part of TRTL to be as much a part of the global queer identity as the rainbow flag (in all its variations) currently is.”

---

MaDRAGarakaDay, queer celebration and drag event organized by Kawira Mwirichia, Nairobi, Kenya (2019). Photo by Wawira Njeru and via Behance.

Queer Rights in Kenya

LGBT+ activists were disheartened when Kenya’s High Court upheld British colonial-era anti-homosexuality laws in May of this year. The High Court upheld both Article 162 which punishes “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” and Article 165 which outlaws “indecent practices between males.” Police often use these laws as a pretext to harass and extort queer people.

“Kenya is quite conservative, mostly because of religion, but also because of some cultural beliefs. It’s interesting because, I think, the religious and cultural perspectives on the issue actually sort of clash when you dig deeper. What people perceive as cultural—what is traditionally African—is actually rooted in religions introduced through colonialism,” Mwirichia explains.

She adds, “Yeah, Christianity is seen as very African, but it’s not. If you look back at who we were culturally before we were colonized, we were so diverse in terms of sexual practices and our gender expressions. The erasure of who we were before colonialism has really affected how we live our lives as Kenyans and as Africans in general.”

A 2018 study reveals that 37% of religious leaders endorse the use of violence to maintain traditional social values, specifically regarding queerness. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has called homosexuality “not acceptable” but has also said he would not tolerate anti-LGBT “witch hunts.” Kenya is also the only East African nation where someone can seek asylum for LGBT+ status.

---

Kawira Mwirichia posing with her Kenya Kanga Flag (2019. Via the artist’s Instagram.

Empowerment

Kawira Mwirichia continues to create kanga flags. She has created over twenty flags, including Palestine, Brazil, and Lebanon. The flags are available for purchase on Mwirichia’s website.

Mwirichia is also active in her community in Nairobi, frequently organizing events. She is currently planning a showcase for June 2020 set to feature drag and vogue performances. You can donate to the event here, as well as follow Mwirichia’s project To Revolutionary Type Love on Instagram.