Kamau Ware
Kamau Ware
{visual storyteller}
Bio:
Kamau Ware is a multidimensional creative blending complementary yet disparate disciplines as an Artist / Historian. Kamau retells and expands history with scholarship and visual storytelling to fuse creativity and learning into one experience. He is best known for his flagship storytelling project, Black Gotham Experience (BGX), which is an immersive multimedia project founded in 2010 that celebrates the impact of the African Diaspora on New York City through a series of walking tours and graphic novels.
As the Founder & Lead Creative of Black Gotham Experience, Kamau has established an expansive public experience that weave art and history together. The heart of this experience are three stories that revisit Manhattan in 1625 and move forward through three centuries: Other Side of Wall Street, Caesar’s Rebellion, and Citizen Hope.
Kamau’s Black Gotham Experience has been featured in the New York Observer, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Time Out New York. BGX has won awards and grants from Columbia University’s History in Action Project Award and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Ware has also made appearances on NBC New York, ABC New York, and The Huffington Post to share this unique understanding of the Black Diaspora’s presence in New York City. Ware has also received prominent commissions, one of which is a public art display in New York City’s Financial District just one block from Wall Street located on Water Street and Gouverneur Lane.
Through research and visual arts, Kamau Ware has become a sought-after voice to fill the visual abyss of Black New York history, illustrating powerful stories that exist outside of public consciousness. Recent engagements include a joint presentation by the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Goldman Sachs, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; and the inaugural BLERD (Black + Nerd) City Conference. Upcoming engagements include the American Association for State and Local History in Austin, TX; Creative Control Fest in Columbus, OH; and the New Museum’s IdeasCity in New York, NY.