The launch of the group exhibition, Sisi Ni Hao, at Goethe Institute in Nairobi last Thursday night was an exhilarating moment for women to reflect on the success of women’s solidarity.
“I’ve never been to an all-women’s exhibition before and it feels really good,” said one of the women (and men) who came to witness the stunning exposé of nearly a dozen African women professional photographers.
Sarah Waiswa, the show’s ambitious curator, had unearthed a rich reservoir of hidden talent that might have remained a secret to the wider world, had this illustrious female photographer not sought to build a community of professional women from across the region who had skills similar to her own.
Margaret Ngigi's Beauty painting in the Sisi Ni Hao exhibition at Goethe Institute in Nairobi on October 28, 2023. PHOTO | POOL
“I had wanted to build a [virtual] platform where African women photographers could meet to share ideas and build a sense of community,” Sarah told BDLife hours before the show’s official opening.
“More than 100 women from all around the [African] region are now members of our online community [African Women in photography],” she added.
But only 11 are represented in this showcase since Sarah sought to put the spotlight on women working in East Africa, specifically from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya.
Among the members whose images are on display at Goethe’s main auditorium are Darlyne Komukama, DeLovie Kwagala, Esther Sweeney, Fadumo Mohamaud Ali, Lyra Aoko, Mumbi Muturi, Neema Ngelima, Margaret Njeri Ngigi, Thandiwe Muriu, Tracy Keza and Tsion Haileselassie.
In addition, Sarah did an extensive search in Kenya’s National Archives to obtain images reflective of the colonial gaze on African women.
The clashing contrast in perspective is instructive. It gives one deeper appreciation of women’s phenomenal rise from being servants and unpaid farm workers (slaves) to having agency, a sense of identity that’s unshackled from the patriarchal perspective that could never consider a woman an equal.
Unfortunately, it's a view that persists today among some men unprepared to let go of past practices which failed to recognise women’s empowerment and agency.
One reason Sisi ni hao is so refreshing is that we no longer see women asking (or even begging) for acceptance and recognition. They are no longer looking to paternalistic leaders for guidance. Instead, they are blazing trails of their own, as when their images appear in both local and international media when they are winning global awards, and being included by prestigious collections, both public and private.
But the art of assembling such women on one platform and then sharing it at Goethe Institute, with support from the Ford Foundation, is Sarah’s achievement. It’s one among many accomplishments of this Uganda-born, Kenya-based professional researcher, curator, and photographer who was originally trained to be a social scientist.
“But the moment I picked up a [Nikon] camera and started taking photographs, I suddenly felt this was where I was meant to be,” Sarah said, summarising that ‘epiphany moment’ when her life purpose and passion seemed to blend in perfect balance and harmony.
The prospect of doing photography full-time wasn’t a foregone conclusion, however.
Darlyne Komukama's untitled image in Sisi Ni Hao at Goethe Institute on October 28, 2023. PHOTO | POOL
“I just started taking photographs and posting them on Instagram,” she said, describing the process as it evolved, even as she was still working full-time in the corporate sector.
“But then, I started getting calls to shoot friends’ weddings, and things took off from there,” she recalled. Since then, Sarah’s images have featured everywhere from the New York Times, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post to brand promotions for names like Dior and Chloe.
It’s been in the course of her evolution that she’s met other outstanding women professionals from all across the region as well as Kenyans like Margaret Ngigi, Esther Sweeney and Mumbi Muturi, among others.
And one of the most cutting edge for me has been Thandiwe Muriu, the Kenya-born creative whose photos blend everything from art, design, colour, fashion, and hyper-realism into stunning images that have been featured on CNN, BBC, Vogue, Elle, and Forbes among other global and local publications.
Her work has also been collected and included in countless private and public collections, most notably the prestigious Contemporary African Art Collection of Pigozzi.
Sarah Waiswa, curator of Sisi Ni Hao exhibition at Goethe Institute in Nairobi on October 28, 2023. PHOTO | POOL
What makes Sisi Ni Hao so important, even historical is not just that it assembles the works of women photographers at the Goethe, designed for them a website and platform of their own, and implicitly served to deconstruct the colonial gaze of patriarchy that continues to plague women worldwide.
It’s provided evidence that African women photographers have arrived! To paraphrase the words of aye qui armah, ‘the beautiful ones have already been born’, and African women are making that clear with a show like sisi ni hao.
