DISCOVER BIRUNGI KAWOOYA

The Woman Behind the Fibre

Wellbeing and Liberation Artist Researcher

DISCOVER BIRUNGI KAWOOYA

The Woman Behind the Fibre

Wellbeing and Liberation Artist Researcher

I didn't come to this work through theory.
I came to it because my body stopped cooperating.

There was a time I couldn't feel much at all. Not joy. Not rest. Not even my own feet.

I was working long days, holding everything together on the outside - and quietly disconnecting from myself on the inside.

So I began, slowly, to come back.

Through art.
Through my senses.
Through paying attention to what my body was trying to say.

And that changed everything.

Birungi Kawooya portrait
Birungi with bark cloth

Today, I am a fibre artist, facilitator, and wellbeing and liberation artist researcher.

My work lives at the intersection of creativity, rest, and Black feminist practice.

In practice, that looks like Mindful African Art playshops, sensory-based workshops, and site-specific installations that treat art as research into how our bodies carry stress and how they remember joy.

I create spaces – in studios, workplaces, community centres, and sometimes under trees – where people can reconnect with themselves, with each other, and with what feels possible again.

We use colour, fabric, collage, ritual, and gentle conversation to slow the room down, so people don’t just attend – they exhale.

Not by pushing harder.

But by softening enough to feel.

Most of the People I Work Are Holding a Lot

Sometimes it's organisations — teams navigating burnout, disconnection, and the quiet tension between what they say they value and what people actually experience day to day.

Sometimes it's individuals — often Black women who have spent years caring for others, performing strength, and pushing through… until something in them says, "this isn't sustainable."

In both cases, the need is the same: a space to pause. To feel. To imagine something different.

A Space for Resistance and Renewal

What Happens in My Workshops

My workshops are not about teaching people how to make "good" art.

I'm not interested in replication.
I'm interested in what lives inside you.

We use collage, sensory practices, and guided reflection to return to the body — to rebuild trust with

your own voice, your own rhythm, your own knowing.

Because when people feel safe in their bodies again, something shifts.

New ideas emerge.

Confidence returns.

Connection deepens.

I've seen people who once said, "I'm not creative" leave saying, "I didn't know I could feel like this."

This Work Is Deeply Personal

It's shaped by my own experience of burnout, by my Ugandan heritage, and by a commitment to collective care - especially for Black women, whose wellbeing is so often deprioritised.

I don't position myself as a healer.

What I do is create the conditions where people can meet themselves honestly, and begin their own process of healing, imagination, and return.

Research, Practice & Collaboration

Alongside being an artist, I am also a wellbeing and liberation researcher. I have collaborated with universities, cultural institutions, and grassroots organizations to explore how art can foster belonging, confidence, and collective resilience. Some of my projects and partnerships include:

  • ●
    Science Gallery London (2024)
    Created an immersive installation, A Space for Resistance and Renewal.
  • ●
    Njabala Foundation (Uganda, 2023)
    Artist-in-residence, exploring rest and care in Ugandan traditions.
  • ●
    Royal Holloway, University of London (2023)
    Led future-self workshops for marginalized students, supported by UN PRME.
  • ●
    Kensington & Chelsea Art Week (2023)
    Co-created the Black Womxn at Rest mural with artist Bokani.
  • ●
    The World Reimagined (2022)
    Designed a globe sculpture, Peckham in Bloom.
  • ●
    Imperial Health Charity (2021)
    Commissioned to run Mindful African Art workshops.
Birungi with traditional shield

In the Press

My work has been featured across cultural and media platforms:

BBC Radio London (2022)

Interview on Colonised Inheritance comic and themes of colonial legacy, patriarchy, and healing.

Ministry of Arts Podcast (2023)

In conversation about collage, ritual, and public art.

Ben Uri Research Unit

Artist profile recognizing Sisters Need Sleep and other collections.

Exhibitions and Cultural Press

Highlighting my work across the UK and Uganda.

You're Welcome Here

If you're an organisation, you might be here because something isn't landing with your

current approach to wellbeing.

If you're an individual, you might be here because you're tired — in a way that rest alone

hasn't fixed.

You don't have to perform. You don't have to have the answers.
You can just begin where you are.

You don't have to perform. You don't have to have the answers. You can just begin where you are.

Birungi Kawooya

Wellbeing and liberation artist-researcher, facilitator and cultural custodian. Translating healing, ancestry, and imagination into creative rituals.

CONNECT

London, UK

© 2026 Birungi Kawooya Art. All rights reserved.

"Rest is my right"