Idris Brewster on Kinfolk’s AR Monuments, the Power of Digital Storytelling and the Vision Behind Bibi Bahari. He also touches on Wangechi Mutu’s impact on Augmented Reality and the celebration of Black and Brown Narratives.
Wangechi Mutu, NOLA. Courtesy of Kinfolk.
Kinfolk’s latest groundbreaking collaboration with celebrated artist Wangechi Mutu brings the augmented reality (AR) digital monument Bibi Bahari to The Moonwalk Riverfront Park in New Orleans. This non-profit platform, founded in 2017, has pioneered using AR to recenter the voices and histories of Black and Brown communities, challenging traditional narratives and creating interactive, immersive public art experiences. Mutu’s work, renowned for exploring race, identity, and myth issues, adds depth to Kinfolk’s mission, transforming public spaces with digital installations honouring marginalised histories. Idris Brewster, Kinfolk’s co-founder, shares insights into the vision behind Kinfolk, the impact of AR on public art, and the future of their Signature Series. This project has already seen collaborations with iconic artists like Hank Willis Thomas and Derrick Adams, and Mutu’s Bibi Bahari promises to be a transformative addition to this ongoing series.
ART AFRICA: Can you explain the vision behind Kinfolk and how you are using augmented reality (AR) to bring Black and Brown narratives to the forefront?
Idris Brewster: Kinfolk’s vision is to empower our communities and reimagine their public spaces, both digitally and physically. Our goal as an organisation is to build narrative power within Black and Brown communities globally. The technology we are building is a vessel to empower our collective memory. Kinfolk started as a project to protest the oppressive Christopher Columbus statue in NYC, reimagining a new monument to replace it. From that activation, a digital archival platform was born. Now, we are using augmented reality to reimagine new public spaces nationwide. Using augmented reality is crucial as it is one of the few technologies connecting us with the land around us and allowing us to embed our imagination into our lived spaces. 
Kinfolk was a participants in the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibit, ‘Architecture Now: New York, New Publics’. 19 February – 29 July, 2023. Kinfolk’s contributions to the exhibit honour the stories and legacies of David Ruggles, Seneca Village, and the Young Lords. Their work illustrates how public spaces can be made more inclusive, informative, and community-oriented with the help of technology. Courtesy of Kinfolk.
What inspired Kinfolk to collaborate with Wangechi Mutu for the Signature Series, and how does her artistic style complement your platform’s mission?
Wangechi Mutu is one of the most visionary artists of our generation. I already knew her approach to sculpture, collage, and performance and that her work would fit perfectly for the augmented reality medium. What was even more inspiring was Wangechi’s commitment to challenging Western notions of race and womanhood. Wangechi breaks the confines of our traditional world and pulls her audience into these imaginary worlds grounded in history, myth, and land—which is particularly inspiring to me. Wangechi’s approach to the radical imagination pushed this medium further than we have ever experienced.
How does the AR technology in the Kinfolk app transform the viewer’s experience of public art, especially in a digital monument like Bibi Bahari?
At Kinfolk, we use augmented reality (AR) to shift how people experience public art fundamentally. Traditionally, monuments are static—immovable fixtures that often reflect a singular narrative, largely ignoring the complexities and contributions of Black and Brown communities. What we’re doing is flipping that model on its head. With AR, we’re not just adding another layer to public art but transforming the entire interaction. The viewer is no longer just a passive observer—they’re an active participant in history.
Hank Willis Thomas, All Power to All People. Signatures series. Courtesy of Kinfolk.
When someone uses the Kinfolk app to engage with our AR monuments, they’re stepping into an immersive experience tied to real-world locations through geolocation technology. The viewer encounters these digital monuments in specific places that often directly connect to the stories we are telling. It’s not just a visual experience. Our app is layered with audio, video, and interactive elements, offering the viewer a fuller understanding of the historical figure or moment they’re encountering. The experience becomes personal and multi-dimensional, allowing people to connect with history in ways that traditional monuments never could.
AR brings the viewer into the heart of the story. Instead of simply looking up at a statue, they can listen to it, reflect on it, and engage actively with the historically marginalised or erased narratives. By transforming public artwork from something you pass by, it becomes something you experience and participate in. The geolocation element means these digital monuments can appear at sites where these stories were erased historically, giving them back their rightful place in our public memory.
By humanising and contextualising these figures, AR encourages viewers to think critically about the spaces around them and the histories embedded within them. It’s an invitation to reshape public spaces into more inclusive environments that reflect the full spectrum of our collective histories.
Tourmaline, Alien Superstar. Signatures series. Courtesy of Kinfolk.
How do you see the partnership between technology and art evolving in the near future, and what other artists or themes will you be exploring in Kinfolk’s upcoming Signature Series?
As our technology progresses, it is essential that artistic expression be included. We need artists’ perspectives in the technology space so that our lives are not filled with cold, robotic technology. Art will help humanise the technology we engage with every day, making it more engaging, participatory, and dynamic. Art will be able to embed the soul in our technological future. Kinfolk is looking to be a driver for that soul.
For more information, please visit Kinfolk.
