The girls that reclaim the streets of Nairobi
This female art collective creates murals in Kenyan towns and slums, bringing attention to a variety of social issues, including discrimination, education, and the dangers of drunk driving.
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00:00 Females fearlessly reclaiming the streets of Nairobi through artistry.
00:07 Meet the graffiti girls.
00:14 This whole sketch represents graffiti girls.
00:17 And of course the butterfly is there because butterflies to me represent transformation.
00:22 And of course the spray can, what we do.
00:27 Established in 2015, Graffiti Girls is a collective of women in their 20s who paint murals in
00:34 towns and slums such as Gorogosho and Kariobangi, Kenya.
00:40 Their subject matter tackles a wide range of societal issues such as female genital
00:45 mutilation, rape, discrimination, education and drunk driving.
00:51 My name is Deborah Tumaini Mvuria.
00:53 I am part of the Graffiti Girls Kenya.
00:55 I joined Graffiti Girls Kenya when I attended the Nairobi Design Week.
01:00 So I approached our patron Smoke and I was like, "Yo, how do I get in?"
01:05 And he was like, "You're in."
01:06 And I'm like, "Yes, let's do this."
01:09 I founded Graffiti Girls in 2015.
01:11 I did a live painting at YWCA.
01:14 The YWCA liked what I did.
01:17 So it being a young women's association, I suggested we do graffiti classes for girls
01:24 and gave it like a purpose.
01:26 It being Graffiti Girls Kenya, we'll be painting murals, addressing social issues affecting
01:31 young women in Kenya.
01:36 While there was a need to form Graffiti Girls, we were all male writers, graffiti artists.
01:41 And then there were too many issues socially affecting women in Kenya.
01:47 Young women artists can come, like a safe space to my classes.
01:52 And I could teach both graffiti art, how to use spray paint, the medium of spray paint
01:58 as a tool to paint.
02:01 Like in most cities, graffiti in Kenya was initially seen as vandalism.
02:06 But as graffiti artists migrated their canvases from walls to matatus, the art form increased
02:11 in popularity.
02:12 As the art evolved from words and tags to murals, it is now appreciated as an art form
02:18 that can beautify spaces while artfully spotlighting societal ills.
02:26 Using the spray paint, it's very powerful.
02:28 It can attract you from a very long distance.
02:32 And you'd want to go next to that mural and find out what is that I just passed by.
02:38 Public has really, it took them time to appreciate our craft.
02:44 People are getting to appreciate and accept that graffiti is something that should be
02:49 embraced.
02:50 Graffiti is initially for the men because the activities that involve painting a wall,
02:59 it's tricky because you have to get on ladders.
03:02 It's a very masculine thing to do.
03:08 Graffiti like any art form is highly personal and it allows artists most intimate thoughts
03:13 to be displayed on a public canvas.
03:16 The message that we want to put out to the girls of this community that we are painting
03:22 in the area today is empowerment, especially in communities where that doesn't really
03:30 exist.
03:31 Yeah.
03:32 The way we choose themes and decide what to paint on depends on current affairs, one.
03:39 So the location where we're painting and who we're painting for, honestly.
03:45 How we pick our places and spaces to paint on, a major factor is the traffic.
03:51 And so the community that we're going to paint in, what kind of people are they?
03:57 We can't paint things to do with luxury in a down to earth community.
04:05 Things that we like to address are things like social justice, voicing out issues of,
04:10 again, gender-based violence because it still exists.
04:14 And as women, we go through it a lot.
04:16 And as women, we love to have the pleasure of painting about it because for us as graffiti
04:23 girls, painting gives us a voice.
04:26 And who better to paint issues that affect women than women themselves, than girls themselves?
04:30 The long-term goal for Graffiti Girls Kenya, we would want to get a center where we could
04:39 create a safe space for young women, young women artists who would like to learn the
04:44 art of graffiti, how they can also make a living out of graffiti as an art form.
04:52 Looking at the final piece makes me proud.
05:00 By its very nature, the artwork of Nairobi's graffiti girls is hard to ignore.
05:06 And perhaps that's what helps to amplify the artistic voices of these fearless female urban
05:12 warriors.
05:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:20 (upbeat music)