This embroidered work offers a contemporary reimagining of the traditional Kikoi, a quintessential Swahili textile woven along the East African coast. While weaving remains central to the Kikoi’s identity, this piece deliberately employs embroidery, a technique less dominant in Kenya’s textile practices, to reinterpret its iconic weave patterns. The shift from loom to needle invites a dialogue between heritage and innovation, transforming the Kikoi’s familiar language into a tactile, thread-borne composition.

The tapestry neither replicates nor displaces the Kikoi’s origins but instead traces its fluidity, a testament to how textiles carry memory.