KAWIRA MWIRICHIA: CURATOR, ACTIVIST, DRAG KING

From her “Booby Brown” performance to her Qings and Kueens workshop, Kawira Mwirichia manages to synthesize so many visual and cultural layers of provocative mastery in her work. Wanjeri Gakuru recently spoke with the artist… 

Kawira Mwirichia as “Booby Brown” (Credit Mungai Kiarie)

Kenya’s burgeoning drag scene is a space for the rehearsal and practice of gender nonconformity, cross-dressing and trans expression. Largely defined by aesthetics, for a few years now, artists have gathered at designated safe spaces to put on fashion shows, dance and lip sync performances. Online social sites have served both as an archive and arena for safe play through make-up, dress and visual presentation.

Multi-disciplinary queer artist and curator, Kawira Mwirichia (34) is most prominently known for her 2017 project, To Revolutionary Type Love (now named Kanga Pride), an ongoing exhibition celebrating queer love, the queer individual, and their history through the use of the traditional kanga cloth

Kawira is also among a small but growing number of Kenyan Drag King performers. 

This June, she had intended to hold a second Kanga Pride exhibition to complete the series. It would feature 195 designs based on historical moments in each nation’s fight for LGBT rights and showcase artists from her Kenyan Drag Qings and Kueens workshop. In this conversation, she talks about the evolution of her work, what motivates her and why the fight for queer creative expression remains urgent. 


Process (Photo Credit @JaluoPrincess)

What drew you to drag? Was it the idea of transformation?

I don’t know exactly how I got into drag but I feel like RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR) must have been involved at some point because I really enjoy the showmanship in the show. For the contestants it’s not just about looking a certain way, it’s about performance. I relate to that, especially since I don’t have a drag character. It’s all about what performance I want to put on.

Like your “Booby Brown” performance?

Yes! EXACTLY like my Booby Brown performance! I worked really hard on it. I cut up my vest for the letters and sewed it onto my coat, I even created a four-song mix for the performance and rehearsed his dance moves (though my knees and hips would only let me go so far). The whole time I worked, I was watching RPDR for inspiration. I had two friends over and it was all that was on. 

‘I wanted to include a drag show but using cultural dress and aesthetics.’

What drove you to put together the Kenyan Drag Qings and Kueens workshop? 

It started when I was thinking about my next Kanga Pride exhibition. The first launch had included three musicians and as I planned for the next one, I wanted it to be even more of a performance. I wanted to include a drag show but using cultural dress and aesthetics.

I was aware that preparing for such an event would require lots and lots of learning and practise so I started reaching out to people who I thought could help with this. Interestingly enough, it was Drag King Namii (American gender-queer burlesque performer) who reached out to me with the proposal for holding a Drag workshop here in Nairobi! In 2019, we held From Boyz to Men: The Glow Up Edition at Creatives Garage. Namii really brought home the idea that drag was more than dressing and looking a certain way – it was about EMBODYING a character. The way they moved and why. It was like taking a crashcourse in method acting.

For Kenyan Drag Qings and Kueens, I continued looking deeper into the world of drag to understand it and to figure out how to bring in traditional dress and performance. The research started with traditional clothes; how we presented back in the day. For example, how we wore masks. For me, it goes back to showmanship, I feel masks add a very dramatic element to whatever performance is happening. I was also considering contemporary dress and how we present at the moment. 

This especially came into play before I put on the Booby Brown performance. I started by thinking about which Kenyan artist I could take on, someone who had such a specific look that would be instantly recognizable but I wasn’t able to find that. They all have ‘looks’ but you’d have to explain them because they are not completely individual.  There are so many Western musicians with iconic looks. Maybe there are artists like that here that I just don’t know about.


Namii and Kawira

In your call-out flier it seems one of your workshop’s goals was to have participants  ‘go into the world and WERK all kinds of international spaces with their magic’. How important is it to encourage queer artistic expression when projects like Rafiki and Stories of our Lives faced such backlash? 

The arts are generally a safe space for queer expression of any kind. It is the realm to explore and create and go wild with your imagination. One reason people engage with the arts is because they want to see, feel and experience something different from their usual. I’m open about everything I do and I haven’t really experienced any backlash and I’ve been doing this for about two years now.

That said, you definitely cannot deny the impact of those who have gone before us and started the conversation and paved the way. I don’t know if the drag workshops would have been possible in 1990. There are all these people who have borne the brunt of society’s suspicion or animosity in order for us to get to this space. 

And though there are some people who are violent towards queerness, I feel that for the most part people don’t really care one way or the other. They may be worried about what the violent ones may do and in that way encourage conformity, but mostly they’re like ‘You do you, it has nothing to do with me’. Thankfully, there are also those people who are supportive.

‘…in America, from what I’ve seen, it seems like drag is almost an extreme sport. I love that and would love to nurture some of that here through my projects and shows.’

What’s the local drag scene like?

I definitely think there is more of a lean towards aesthetics. If it is performance, maybe it’s in terms of walk and mannerisms. Ishtar Dolls does some catwalking and voguing, but in America, from what I’ve seen, it seems like drag is almost an extreme sport. I love that and would love to nurture some of that here through my projects and shows. 

Why is there such a difference?

I think it’s about what you can get away with. The more exposed we are to drag, the more it can become a norm. And if more people can participate in it, the more the stakes are raised. Right now it’s not that popular here, it’s not that huge. Here having a look is entertaining enough to have a show. But once that becomes “normal”, drag performers will need to bring something extra to the table to keep things exciting.

What do you think of the trend of male comedians dressing up as women that is so prevalent here?

Maybe we would have more women dressing up as men if they were funnier. I do think it’s rather interesting that you can only dress up as a woman safely when it’s a joke but when you take it seriously then it’s a problem.


Beard Gang (Photo by Wanjiru Njoroge)

What motivates you to keep doing all that you do?

Excellence. A lot of my work has been centred around celebrating queerness in all its existence because I believe there’s so much there to explore and realise for ourselves, especially as Africans who are decolonizing our spaces and our world. So, I am really, really driven by a deep desire to see an authentic excellence in the way we show up. I just want to see us be true to who we really are, and then be really, really good at the things we are and the things we do.

That’s what keeps me going.