Stories from the heart

Kenyan fine art photographer Thandiwe Muriu has a gift that she was encouraged by her parents to explore from a young age.

- Tracy Calder

There’s an African proverb that reads, ‘Do not let what you cannot do tear from your hands what you can.’ It’s a beautiful sentiment and one that fine art photographer Thandiwe Muriu has been guided by since taking up photography at the age of 14. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Muriu and her sisters were raised by two parents with a definite ‘can-do’ attitude. ‘My father was my first cheerleader, encouraging me as I experimented with his old Nikon camera after school,’ she explains. Muriu would race through her homework and head out with the Nikon before it got too dark. ‘I was using a D80, and it got noisy around ISO 400, so I had to get everything shot before dusk,’ she laughs. What her father couldn’t teach her, Muriu learnt from old magazines that he bought for her from sellers by the roadside.

From the outset, it was clear that Muriu had a gift. ‘I just connected with photography,’ she smiles. ‘It became this language that I could understand. The camera was a tool I could use to express things I couldn’t before.’ She was soon raiding her sister’s stash of Vogue magazines for inspiration. ‘I saw this amazing world of images. One month we’re in space, then in a jungle or a mansion – it was incredible.’ It was a time of artistic freedom, when Muriu and her sisters could break the ‘rules’ before they even knew what they were. ‘I look at those pictures now and they’re terrible,’ she laughs. ‘But it was a time of wonder and exploration. A time of pure creativity.’

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