WANJA KIMANI
w: wanjakimani.com
IG: @wanja_kimani_studio
EDUCATION
2019 – Present PhD in Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London.
2008 – 2010 MA Theory and Practice of Human Rights, University of Essex, UK.
2005 – 2008 BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of the Creative Arts, UK.
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2022
Exercises in Conversation, Kenyan Pavillon, 59th Venice Biennale
2021
Double bill – performance screening, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, UK.
Here in This Room (Sheffield DocFest), S1 ArtSpace.
2019
Yesterday is Today’s Memory, Espace Commines, Paris, France.
NAE Open, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK.
Mother Art Prize, Mimosa House, London, UK.
2018
Laboratoire Agit’ Art, Dak'Art – 13th Biennial of Contemporary African Art, Dakar, Senegal
Ailleurs est ce rêve proche, La Villa du Parc, France
New Threads: Investigating Process and Material, Circle Art Agency, Nairobi, Kenya
2017
Landscapes of the Body, Art Paris Art Fair, Paris, France
VIDEOZOOM (Touring exhibition) Le Murate PAC, Florence, Italy, Museum of Trastevere, Rome, Italy, FM Center for Art, Milan, Italy
2016
Dak'Art – 12th Biennial of Contemporary African Art, Dakar, Senegal
Kabbo Ka Muwala – The Girl’s Basket: Migration and Mobility in Contemporary Art in Southern and Eastern Africa. National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Makerere Art Gallery, Uganda, Städtische Galerie Bremen, Germany
2015
Caroussa Sonore (in collaboration with Ilpo Jauhiainen as part of Shubbak Festival) Various locations, London, UK
Sustainable Connections – The illy sustainArt World, La Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy
African Odysseys, Le Brass, Brussels, Belgium
Concerning the Internal Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
2013 After the Rain, Asni Gallery, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
RESIDENCIES
Plural Artist in Resident, Despina, Rio de Janeiro, June - July 2022
Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, March - April 2022
Kuta-na Sanaa Residency, Nafasi Art Space, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. 1-31 August 2014
Women Speak Out/La Parole aux Femmes, Wemah Art Project, Bonendale, Cameroon. 13-27 January 2014
SEMINARS | WORKSHOPS
‘Ordinary Notes’ by Christina Sharpe, Central St. Martins, London, 6 June 2023
Africa Futures; ECAS9, University of Cologne, Germany, 31 May - 3 June 2023.
Tactics and Praxis, St John’s College, University of Cambridge, 11 March 2022.
Queer Art of Feeling. Speaker: Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge. 2 – 3 May 2019
ECAS7 – 7th European Conference on African Studies, Speaker: Basel University, Basel, Switzerland. 29 June – 1 July 2017
Sounds of Change Conference. C/O Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, Speaker: Goethe Institut, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 30 April 2014
Giving Contours to Shadows. C/O Savvy Contemporary. Speaker: The Nest. Nairobi, Kenya. 12 March 2014
Images of Africa. Speaker: Royal Holloway, University of London. 2 November 2011
PUBLICATIONS
Kimani, W. (2025).‘I’ll think of a title after I write’ in Avery, V and Kimani, W (ed), Rise Up: Resistance, Revolution, Abolition. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Kimani, W., Karuti, J. and Cvejić, B., 2022. Jackie Karuti: Notes Movement Method. Milano: Mousse Publishing.
Kimani, W., 2021.'It's not you, its' me': Creative Video Reflections on the Black Female Body. MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture (8).
Kimani, W. (2021). Tongues. Published by Black Fox.
Kimani, W. (2015). The Image of Ethiopia: From Campaign Imagery to Contemporary Art. In Images of Africa. Edited by Dr Julia Gallagher.
Kimani, W. (2010). Emancipatory Practices: “Ethnicity” in the Contemporary Creative Industries in Kenya. Human Rights, Social Justice, and the Impact of Race. 3 (2), 251-263.
COMMISSIONS | AWARDS
2024
Literature Matters, Royal Society of Literature, London, UK.
2021
Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, UK.
Who’s Culture, Metal Culture Peterborough.
2020
Butterfly - Digital Commission, Scarborough Museums Trust
2019
Developing Your Creative Practice - Arts Council England
2010
Human Rights Scholarship Award - University of Essex
Essex County Council Grant for Dear Mr President in partnership with Mwelu Foundation, Nairobi Kenya
For a full CV, please email via the contact page.