Wanuri Kahiu’s brand of art does not want to be defined by policy or agenda. Not by war or poverty or HIV/Aids, and all the dreary things that ‘come from Africa.’ Not because she does not care about such issues, but she wants to produce art about seven-foot tall robots that fall in love, or a pop band that goes to space. She wants to be “fun, fierce and frivolous — like bubblegum.” She called it the AfroBubbleGum Art, in her last TED talk. Her latest movie ‘Rafiki’ became the first Kenyan film to debut at the Cannes Film Festival, but it was banned. She is not perturbed because at her very core she sits on happiness; a happy mother, a happy wife, in a happy blended family. She is writing, creating and disrupting. She just got picked as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (another first) and also signed with Gotham Group, a Hollywood production company. She talks to JACKSON BIKO about happiness, creativity and mad robots.
