This Photo Series Documents a Group of Female Circumcisers Turned Fashion Mentors
Osborne Macharia's latest photo series, Magadi, honors the Kenyan women who abandoned their practice of female circumsicion to become fashion mentors for young girls in their community.
Kenyan art photographer and afrofuturist, Osborne Macharia, is known for illuminating the work of local Kenyan women through his fine art photography. He's the artist behind the popular photo series, Kenya's League of Extravagant Grannies and his previous collection, KIPIRIRI 4 honored Kenya's female freedom fighters through a reimagining of their roles through opulent hairstyles.
Macharia debuted his latest photo series, Magadi, last week at the annual Design Indaba festival in Cape Town, and it follows in his tradition of championing badass Kenyan women through fictitious photo essays.
The images document a group of former female circumcisers turned fashion mentors with awe-worthy style.
"This is the story of a group of former female circumcisers living in the vast salty plains of Lake Magadi who abandoned their former practice and took up Ethnic Fashion as an alternative livelihood," explains the artist. "They now shelter young girls escaping early marriage, teaching them on fashion skills such as styling, fashion design, print work and modeling for both local and international runways."
View some photos from the Magadi series below, and revisit our interview with Macharia, from earlier this year, where he spoke about the inspiration behind his project KIPIRIRI 4.