iamthenublack: S. Kamau Mucoki

nublack_kamauintroduce yourself

Photographer, blogger. Kenyan. Born in Cailfornia, raised in Kenya, spent entire adulthood in these United States. Currently living in New York City. In my blog AFRICA.VISUAL_MEDIA I try to find connections between Africa and the West, Africa and its diaspora. I have also been photoblogging on and off (currently off) since 2000.

fav lyric from a song

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds” –  – Bob Marley.

As Africans our way forward is to be inspired by, not shackled to, our past as we figure out to live meaningfully in the 21st century.

who and what inspires you?

1. Andrew Dosunmu: In his photography, he has created a visual style that mixes the excitement, edge and glamor of global cities like New York with the colors, textures and people of Africa.

2. BLK JKS: Four South African gents carving their own idiosyncratic path through music, but still very much African. They are blowing big holes in the accepted notion of what is African music, especially as defined by other Africans.

3. New York City. Where worlds collide in endlessly interesting ways.

icons past & present

My late father John Mucoki. A man who lived with grace, humor, humility and the utmost integrity. A man who left everything he knew in Kenya to come and study in the US in the early 60’s. This opened up the globe to our family and set me on the path I am on today. A man who gave me my intellectual curiosity, my interest in the world. I still want to be like him when I grow up.

the nublack philosophy/mantra according to

Here is something I wrote on my blog, which I think fits in with a nublack-style world view:

For all of us non-Westerners, our challenge is to balance African-ness/Asian-ness/Eskimo-ness/whatever-ness with the best of what the modern world has to offer in science, technology, philosophy, art, culture. That is the promise of globalization.

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