Osborne Macharia is a self-taught commercial photographer and visual artist born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya. He holds a with a Bachelors in Architecture.
Macharia’s style of photography falls within the genre of Afrofuturism, governed by 2 key elements: cultural identity and fiction. Through storytelling and social inclusion, it creates a powerful platform to convey important messages on topics such as equality, inclusion, representation, gender abuse, ivory poaching, FGM, albinism, dwarfism, conservation and elderly care.
When describing his Afrofuturistic work, Macharia stated that “it is a post-colonial narrative about the continents, where you embrace history, present culture, and future aspirations of people of color through art… music… fashion – and just tell a different narrative about the continent.”
As a commercial photographer, Macharia has worked with some of the top international brands including Marvel’s Black Panther, Disney, Oprah Winfrey Network’s Queen Qugar, Absolut Vodka, Campari, Coca Cola, Guinness, Mercedes, MTV, VW, Samsung, Danone, Nestle, Cadburys, Forbes, Pepsi, just to name a few.
Some of his accomplishments include being the first Kenyan ever to be appointed as a jury member for the prestigious Cannes Lion Awards and ONE CLUB/ADC Awards both in 2018. He has also appeared as a speaker at the University of Michigan’s Penny Stamps Speaker Series 2018 and Design Indaba 2017. He was also part of the team that won Kenya’s first ever Cannes Lion in 2015. His work has been featured on Lurzer’s archive ‘200 best digital artists worldwide 2015/16 and 2017/18.
Macharia has been featured in respected publications and news channels such as CNN, BBC, WeTransfer, i-D, Vogue Italia, Communication Arts, Complex, Huffington Post, Bored Panda, Buzz Feed, Design Indaba, Okay Africa, Afro-Punk, Elle Magazine, and Behance curated galleries.
His most recent exhibitions include: Breda Photo (2018: Breda); IAF Basel (2018: Basel); Marvel Studios 10 Years Of Of Heroes (2018: Singapore); Afrofuturism (2018: Amsterdam); Black To The Future | Reimagining Now (2018: Dubai); No Touch Am (2017: Nairobi); Bamako Encounters (2017: Bamako); and Lagos Foto Festival (2017: Lagos: 2017).
Osborne Macharia is featured in Zeitz MOCAA’s exhibition, Still here tomorrow to high five you yesterday… (2019).