Introduction: Reparations and Visual Culture

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Introduction: Reparations and Visual Culture

This section of Kiberanet aims to explore visual culture in the local context, examining the critical role that art and aesthetics play in processes of reparations.

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Traditional art forms have emerged to become resonant vehicles for reparations.

Visual culture – including art, images, films, exhibitions have emerged to become resonant vehicles for reparations.

In assembling this themed section of Visual Culture, we were also compelled by the important traditional, tribal and political works that artists do in sensing and seeing reparation.

TRADITIONAL HANDMADE ARTIFACTS

Music Fashion, Streetwear, and Identity

Community music shows are far more than auditory events; they are living galleries of local visual culture. From the grassroots stage design and DIY merchandise tables to the raw, expressive streetwear of the crowd, these shows act as temporary spaces where a community physically visualizes its identity, history, and solidarity.

KNOW ARTIST PURCHASE MERCHANDISE

Feature Artist

Faith Atieno

This section explores artists and how to purchase authentic merchandise from them. This serves as our tangible, community-driven form of economic and cultural restitution.

David Zihlmann, Architectural Student - Switzerland

Architectural Student from Switzerland buying art inside Kibera Slums DURING A TOUR of Nairobi.

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Featured Artist

Faith Atieno is a self-taught visual artist, muralist, and social entrepreneur born and raised in the Kibera informal settlement of Nairobi, Kenya. She is the founder of Art 360 Kibera, a community-centered creative hub dedicated to empowering local youth, children, and women through visual arts.

Her journey

Atieno discovered her passion for art during a high school art program. With few art resources or mentors available around her, she taught herself to paint and learned from local artists. She later left her job at a Nairobi hotel to focus on grassroots artivism and help create opportunities for young people in her community.

Featured Artist

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Physical Eviction vs. Documented Rights

Forced evictions are not merely structural changes to a city; they are direct violations of human dignity that fracture entire social fabrics. In this special visual feature, we trace the human cost of rapid urban development and systemic neglect. The following articles document the exhausting cycle of constant movement imposed upon vulnerable neighborhoods. By centering the visual narratives of those on the frontlines of displacement, we aim to transform passive observation into active solidarity.

Even though the Wanakolo family in Kibera lacks official claims to their land, their sudden eviction for state infrastructure projects highlights how vulnerable informal settlements remain to forced displacement.

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