This Saturday, Kijana Collaborative Artist Residency, in collaboration with residency designers and artists from Kibera and beyond, will present a street runway, live performances with music and dance artists, food, pop-up market with designer outfits and accessories, fashion photography and open studios.
The Backstory: Beyond the Garment
This September, a group of artists from across the continent and beyond have gathered in Nairobi’s Kibera Arts District for a 3-week collaborative residency called “Bridging Spaces” – a space for dialogue and experimentation through textiles – facilitated by Kijana Collaborative Artist Residency.
Kijana is shaped by cultural exchange and collaborative endeavors. It embodies a vision born of connection and shared artistic pursuit. The main aims are to curate unique collaborative projects, organize and facilitate artist residencies and showcases, and to promote products and processes.
The creative approach of each individual project is dependent on the collaborative spirit of the artists involved, joining minds around the idea that they want to execute. Social impact is achieved through the process itself.
Together, the artists explore evolving concepts like “Beyond Garment”, which asks how fabric can move beyond fashion into sculpture, storytelling, performance and sustainable living and how outfits can move beyond textiles.
Each artist’s project begins as a working proposal, open to growth shaped by community and interactions. The artists bring diverse practices such as sewing, weaving, beadwork, performance and critical reflection — all in conversation with the people, materials and stories they’ll encounter in Nairobi.
It is a collaborative act of reimagining what art becomes when it listens, adapts and transforms.
From portraiture through textile collage, streetwear made from secondhand denim and leather, fabric scraps transformed into sculptural home décor, through performative patchwork masks animated by movement and sound, to upcycled garments from waste materials – everyday situations, objects and interactions become works of art when passed through the hands of an artist.
Kijana Founder and Residency Coordinator Lana Skorohod has brought 5 artists into the current iteration of the programme: Cosmas Millinga (Mtu Loko), a fashion designer from Tanzania; Upendo Mkonya (Lavo Hands) a fashion designer and seamstress from Tanzania, Huge Sillytoe a performance artist from UK, Paula Angar a fabric artist from Kenya, Brenda Wambale (Miss Wambale) an upcycling artist from Kenya. These artists are working together with a body of volunteering artists and designers from Kibera and wider Nairobi, including Brillian, Tezra, Rogers, Louis, Eugene, and Majaliwa, plus a number of local models.
Miss Wambale, a Nairobi-based fashion innovator known for her sustainable design, facilitated an Upcycle & Accessorize Workshop. Participants were able to discover how to turn everyday materials into bold and stylish accessories. In this hands-on workshop, Wambale shared her powerful patience while transforming waste into beauty and making the world a better place. She inspired and guided the participants in collecting materials and learning creative upcycling techniques to give old items, collected from around the community, a fresh life while expressing each individual’s unique style.
Huge Sillytoe, a playful and socially-engaged artist from the UK, led an exploration of how fabric can become identity. Through performance and storytelling, participants transformed simple cloth into living characters. Huge introduced the concept of Masks, which are characteristically covering, yet mimicking. Huge asked young participants of the Cloth to Character Workshop to express their experience and imagination using discarded fabrics – covering to protect, mimicking to express. The next question, to be broached at the Kijena Street Style Event is: What do you see?
The Kijana Street Style event on Saturday is just a part of the programme, the final showcase “Beyond Garment” will be on the 4th of October. Watch this space.
📍 HoF Gallery, Kibera Arts District, Nairobi
📅 Saturday 27th September 2025
📞 Info: +254 741 443 678
Kibera Arts District is a community movement of artists, artisans and small business owners. Mural projects, art studios and galleries, and an annual art parade make for a dynamic residency environment.
You can read more about Kijana on their website linked here.