#gariba

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[rapeculturerealities]

How Gyimah Gariba is using caricature to push for a more empathetic world

"I think if you're an empathetic person, you have to practise alchemy: you have to turn it into something."

For Gariba, current events in Ghana reveal a layered history of domination shaping queerness as "un-African" for the modern world. He's been a freelance background painter for the Cartoon Network for eight years and recently collaborated with the footwear company UGG for their Pride Month campaign. In 2015, he was named as one of 15 African artists rebranding the continent by Forbes. Relying on caricature as a desired stylistic form to augment reality, Gariba's transportive work addresses race, sexuality, and difference in subversive ways.

I spoke with Gariba about his two recent pieces, using illustrations to provoke conversations about sexuality in Africa, and how we can collectively transform our empathy into direct action.

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Storm wearing Balmain Resort 2014 | René Gruau-inspired illustration by Gariba, 2014

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