Tahir Karmali

Tahir Karmali was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya and is now based in Brooklyn, NY. He began his career as an ink painter, but his craft evolved to combine abstract painting with portraiture. His first solo exhibit, “Value,” shown in Kenya, depicted male sex workers with their most valuable possession. Working closely with found object artists and sculptors, Tahir was inspired to create his exhibit “Jua Kali” where he depicts themes of the Kenyan economy. He won the POPCAP ’15 Prize for Contemporary African Photography and his work is also part of the “Making Africa” Exhibit at the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Forbes named him as one of 15 Africans rebranding the face of the continent. Tahir received his masters of digital photography at SVA and continues to experiment with mixed media, installation and digital photography.