Bio

Destiny Kirumira is a Black visual artist and current architecture student. Born in Germany to parents from Uganda, Destiny moved to Canada when she was nine. Later on, she received a BA in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Alberta (U of A) in 2018. She is currently finishing her master’s degree in architecture from the University of Calgary, which she will complete in June 2021. Destiny has been in the business of reconciling what may seem like competing narratives and only now feels her multi-cultural upbringing has shaped how she understands the world around her. Through both her designs and paintings, she attempts to reconstruct and reconcile the roots of racism in both fields and does so rigorously. She has produced work for non-profit organizations doing work to bring an end to human trafficking and continues to attempt to create work that challenges norms that harm human life. Ultimately, her art poses questions surrounding race, gender, and politics with the aim of enlightening those of us who have chosen to turn a blind eye to the world’s most grotesque injustices.

Artist Statement

I believe art is a powerful tool for bringing about change. All of my pieces work to dispel the myth that we live in a utopian world. I often take everyday things--things that we see, things that we dismiss as peaceful and passive--and expose them for the violent acts that they are.

My art poses questions surrounding race, gender, and politics with the aim of enlightening those of us who have chosen to turn a blind eye to the world’s most grotesque injustices. I use realism and abstraction as tools to focus the viewer’s gaze onto and away from certain figures and subjects. My work discusses themes of identity and representation by inserting contemporary portraits of Black people into inhumane yet realistic depictions of everyday life.

At times, I attempt to reconcile misrepresentation or underrepresentation of Black women in art by embedding myself into my work. I am then directly portraying how I think I, and other Black women, should be painted. This assertion not only places the contemporary portrait as the focal point, but also challenges and questions the depiction of Blackness in art.

@Destiny_Kirumira