A conversation among queer creatives from Kenya and Rwanda in East Africa. In this dialogue, we will be discussing what it means to create queer themed content for the LGBTIQ+ community in the countries where it is illegal and considered taboo to be queer. These artists share their stories of pains when their queer themed art have been canceled or postponed indefinitely by local authorities or homophobic individuals in their own countries. The artists (Riann, Becky and Obel) are also proud of their wins when they had to defy these malicious structures to put up a show that spoke to the target audience regardless of the hardships.

In order for us to produce content, artists require a favorable environment devoid of judgment and persecution.

Moving production lines: stifling creativity process... target may be one individual, but repercussions are felt by all.

Queer creative networks - are they existent, are we working together

Non-issue : Killing creativity and representation. Uhuru Kenyatta dismisses gays rights as a non issue in Kenya - YouTube

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED - YouTube

I am a dance choreographer, theatre producer, educator and artivist. I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Arts and Film from Kenyatta University in Kenya. I have taught Acting for theatre, Directing theatre, Set Design, Dance Choreography, Spoken Poetry and Script writing in various colleges in Nairobi. I have also been a juror at World Monologue Games, an online monologue competition based in Sidney Australia with participants from around the world. I have served as the Festival Director (Kenya) for the 3rd edition of Motion Pictures International Film Festival head quartered in Lagos, Nigeria with branches in Utah, USA and Nairobi, Kenya. I have written for The XYZ Show that raises awareness on human rights and governance in Kenya and Africa. I am currently the producer at Dark Hard Chocolate arts collective based in Nairobi, Kenya where we use theatre and dance to highlight rights and freedoms of queer individuals with an aim of ending social and political injustices against people who identify as gay, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender, intersex, and queer. We hold fireside chats and engage LGBTIQ persons as well as the allies on how we can use art to advocate for more space for the community. The content that we produce feature queer characters dealing with various issues like finding love, maintaining relationships, sexual health and religion among others. I am currently looking for opportunities in line with my artivism passion to make the world a better place for minority individuals. 

Riann is a multi faceted creative based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is the founder of Mirror Arts, a queer creative space that engages in all forms of artistic expressions. She staged her first queer theatre performance in February and plans to stage another one in May 2022 .

Becky is a 26 years old Rwandan TV personnel, filmmaker,writer,director, actor, makeup artist, and LGBTIQA+ activist. She started her career in film at the age of 15 in a local film group called Happiness Game Films as an aspiring writer, actress and make-up artist And decided to use her talent to do advocacy in 2017 after being outed. Rebecca has attended several creative filmmaking workshops and completed a 3months filmmaking course at INNOVATION BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE(IBTC) in 2014.

After improving her filmmaking knowledge, Rebecca worked with different media houses in Rwanda like Radio/TV 10, Contact FM/TV and YEGO TV, as a radio/Tv presenter, a camera operator and editor.

Rebecca has appeared in several short and long films like The Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen Grand Prize of the city award winner, “I GOT MY THINGS AND LEFT” by MBABAZI Philbert, “ SHE “ by NDIMBIRA Shenge, “ A QUIESCENT “ by Jimmy GASANA, “ A RIDE IN THE COFFIN “ by BENKO Pluvier ,NEPTUNE FROST by Saul Williams which will be in the cinemas worldwide in June 2022.

Rebecca has also worked on different projects as an assistant producer and assistant director. One of them is “ISHEMA” by S-HEKM Shem HETEP which is still in post-production. During the first total lockdown she wrote, directed and produced two 1 min short films, “TIME TABLE” which she submitted to an online film festival called “MOBILE FILM FESTIVAL” and “FORBIDDEN LOVE” which was screened in a multidisciplinary Queer exhibition named IDENTITIES OVERSEAS in Madrid. She recently finished the post production of her new short Film called “HOME” about identities and refuge and is developing more projects.

Gikuiyu Kang’ari, commonly known as Kuiyu (Koyo) is a Nairobi based multi dimensional creative. His work spans over a period of seven years, collaborating with various cultural outfits and creatives in the East African region. He helps visionary creative entrepreneurs find their brand voice and discover its usage as a communications strategist and public relations practitioner with a knack for connecting the dots. His passion for presenting art in the best way possible is realized through his venture Maneno Matamu PR, a boutique solutions’-first, public relations agency. His graphic design skills have seen him work with HIVOS on their collaborative project with WIBO collective to deliver album art and communication for KIUNGA, a 2019 African crossroads collective production on which he also contrite as a production manager for Beyond Kenyan borders, Kuiyu has consistently worked with the Bayimba Organisation and Ongala Music Festival providing press relations and content management services respectively. Employing his voice through conscious Pan-African platforms like TIA, Kuiyu is a budding writer on matters around artivism and wellness. He is also a performing artist, using music as his preferred medium to express poetry while curating images of the present and the future.