Day 3 | Celebrating Ethical Storytelling & 4 Years of Azadi Community
EST ART Exhibition
Organisers
Azadi Community
Year
Location
Nairobi, Kenya
Share
2025
#EndExploitation
Theme:
In collaboration with:
How it Started - Our Journey
Our Ethical Storytelling project started in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic started. A team of experts did research on how Covid-19 affected survivors who virtually trained survivors of human trafficking on photography, story telling and research.
This project was prompted by a realization that survivors' different experiences are misrepresented due to lack of inclusion, power dynamics and lack of trained survivor experts.
In an effort to change that unequal and exclusive storytelling structure, we are intentionally building a narrative here at Azadi because the past ethical storytelling projects have proved that survivors can be subjects, authors, and critics of their own stories after the successful physical and virtual exhibition we held on 30th of July in 2021 as a result of the ethical storytelling project conducted in 2020.
This exhibition is organised by Azadi, and supported by University of Birmingham Rights for Time Project
The Fellowship
This years Ethical Storytelling fellowship was special because its the first time Azadi was engaged young girls and it commenced in January 2025, focusing on creating an ethical and accessible archive on child domestic work through photo stories, videos, creative writing and zines. 5 young girls from the Canna Family and Maisha girls played a major role in planning, designing and curating the fellowship. The program was designed to nurture creativity, amplify their young voices and empower the girls to claim agency by documenting their different realities through different mediums that they chose.
Meet the Artists
Ruth
Ruth is an advocate against human trafficking, a survivor. She is an artist who believes in the quiet power of imagination to speak for the soul, creative boundaries through bold colors, layered textures and storytelling imagery. Every piece is a conversation, layered, intentional and deeply personal. She creates to feel and paints to remember.
Mwende
Mercy Mwende is a proud survivor of child Domestic work survivor and believes that her past does not define her worth but reveals her strength. Today she stands confident in who she is and unafraid to to show up authenticaly. She believes that no experience is too dark to be transformed and that storytelling is not only healing but powerful. Through her voice she wants to reach others who may still be in silence and remind them that there is always a way out always a solution and always a future worth fighting for.
"We dont have to carry shame, we carry power and our stories deserve to be heard" - Mercy Mwende.
Mwongeli
Mwongeli is a survivor leader who is a passionate photographer. She is also dedicated in helping young girls who have been through Child Domestic Work. She enjoys reading books and Photography.
Miriam
Miriam is a survivor leader from Azadi Community. She has undertaken leadership training skills and a course on visual storytelling that has shaped her view on ethical storytelling. She is a passionate photographer and would like to share these skills with other girls who can use this opportunity to reclaim their agency.
Rose
Rose Wambui Wainaina is a survivor leader in the fight againsthuman trafficking, a passionate advocate for gender justice, a proud queer feminist, and a voice for liberation and equity. She is committed to challenging systems of oppression and creating spaces where dignity, freedom and truth are non-negotiable. Rose leads under the framework of ethical storytelling, ensuring that survivors’ voices are centered, espected and never exploited. Her work combines lived experience with sharp advocacy to shift narratives, policies and power.
Meet the Trainer
Rehema
Rehema has a strong curiosity about societal values and the experiences of the community that surrounds her. For over 6 years now, she has expaneded her visual creativity as an artist while acquiring hands on experience working as a photographer with non-profit organizations in Kenya. As she stays present to her environment, she is hoping to join in, even more strongly as the time goes by, on the dialogue on humanity and the dignity of every individual. She lives for storytelling that will continue to lead us to a place of global inclusivity. Check out her website! www.syntaxart.co.ke