Boniface Mwangi is an award winning Kenyan photographer. For four years he held a staff photography position at The Standard, the second largest Kenyan newspaper, taking on various assignments of increasing responsibility in a number of countries.

He also worked as a freelancer for Bloomberg, the AFP, Reuters, the Boston Globe, and other media outlets. During the 2007 post-election skirmishes he took thousands of photos, some so gory they couldn’t be published. His coverage of those attacks entailed great danger as, more often than not, he had to falsify his ethnic identity.

In 2009 he founded Picha Mtaani (www.pichamtaani.org), the first-ever street exhibition in Kenya which was held in towns across the country, showcasing the post election violence photographs to a wider audience beyond Nairobi.

The images provided an opportunity for individuals and groups to reflect on the national tragedy, engage in honest dialogue, seek counseling, and plan for next steps and community action. An audience of over 600,000 (verified, at a minimum) ordinary Kenyans reached and engaged in a participatory process. 70,000 participants signed pledges, filling in cards to commit themselves to upholding peace and promote nonviolence.

He has been recognized as a Magnum Photography Fellow, Acumen Fund East Africa Fellow, TED Fellow, and twice as the CNN Multichoice Africa Photojournalist of the Year, among other awards. He currently runs Pawa 254 www.pawa254.org, a collaborative hub for creatives in Kenya.

Boniface recently received the Prince Claus Award 2012 and is now a senior TED fellow.