Demographica

Demographica The image of Kenya tends to be that of nomadic tribes dressed in red and adorned with beads, the reality is much different. More than a quarter of Kenya’s population today live in cities and, while the country has forty two tribes, the majority of people belong to just five. Furthermore a whooping forty percent of the country’s population is under the age of fourteen, making it a very young country. Demographica is a project that blends photography and demography to create a typology of 100 portraits of Kenyans that represent the country’s statistical make up. The result is a portrait of Kenya that attempts to depict the country as accurately as possible, free of the many biases we all have when it comes to the people who actually make up a country. The portraits in this series are all composites and each consist of nine photographs stitched together to create one full portrait. The technique, known as the Brenizer method, results in portraits with an extremely shallow depth of field - reminiscent of a large format photograph. Gender Ratio Male 50% Female 50% Age 0-14 Years 40.2% 15-24 Years 19.15% 25-54 Years 33.91% 55-64 Years 3.92% 65+ 3% Urban/Rural Urban 26.5% Rural 73.5% Ethnic Groups Kikuyu 22% Luhya 14% Luo 13% Kalenjin 12% Kamba 11% Kisii 6% Meru 6% Other African 15% Asian/European/Arab <1%