James Muriuki is a Nairobi-based artist specializing in photography and lens-based media. He is interested in transitioning societies in the Global South, the different knowledge systems occurring within the visual arts environments of these societies, and how these systems are woven into the social fabric. James uses materials and objects of personal or communal reference as visual elements and metaphorical symbols to illustrate human capacity. He tugs at the threads of the interdependence of circumstance in our turbulent social frameworks: the modern and the traditional; the spontaneous and the customary; the desirable and the aspirational. He investigates and experiments with the potential of images as media and the processes of making art: photography and motion; video and sound, treating them ultimately as reservoirs of knowledge and channels of communication. James’ works have been exhibited in several institutions, are collected globally, and have been included in many publications. He has collaborated with other artists, attended residencies and workshops in different countries, and is a grant recipient. He has worked as a designer and as a gallery manager and curator of a renowned Nairobi Art Institution before venturing off into private practice in 2011. He has carried out many photographic commissions in various capacities – from training photographers to developing and curating photography exhibitions, including Frontiers of the Present: Exploring New Ideas in Photography, Nairobi; Passing It On: Inventorying Living Heritage in Africa, Windhoek; and co-curating In Memorium and Constructions as part of the collective ‘3Collect’ of which he was a founding member. He was central in the publication of the art magazine ‘Msanii,’ the artist book ‘Layers,’ and contributed to the UNESCO publication ‘Documenting Living Heritage.’ He is an alumnus of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Centre of Curatorial Leadership, Fellowship and Training.