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Gucora Andu
Gucora Andu is the pen name of a graphic designer named Vanessa Mwangi (born June 13th, 1993, age 29). She is known for her artwork that illustrates people with focus on women and their issues that concern them. Vanessa uses her platform to raise awareness on feminism. Gucora Andu means 'To Draw People' in Kikuyu (a native Kenyan language). Her work has more minimalist and neutral tones focusing on pinks, browns, and other warm tones.

Website: https://gucoraandu.wordpress.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca2AYs-oiGq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gucora_andu

Early life and education
Mwangi was born in 1993 in Narobi Kenya. She attended St. Austins Academy and graduated high school at the American International School of Johannesburg in 2011 at the age of 18. She then studied at Africa Nazarene University and earned her bachelors degree of Law. Since then she has worked multiple jobs doing digital work on top of her business Gucora Andu.

Career
Gucora Andu was created in 2020 during Covid-19. Mwangi, from a young age, has always taken an interest in illustrating but never created anything from it until the pandemic. She found herself at home with social distancing protocols and dedicated it was time to pursue her interest in digital art. At first, Mwangi was just focusing on drawing people with nothing in particular. With time she started to notice that her artwork was starting to gravitate to more feminist approaches. With the support she received, she continued to create more artworks that focused on social issues and as well of feminism. Some of her notable artworks address body positivity.

Mwangi has been commissioned by the Oxfam International Africa Woman’s Day campaign for two years in a row (2021 & 2020). Her work in 2021 was to celebrate the courage and leadership of African women along with Say Enough Campaign. In 2020 she participated in #FlipTheScript that had a main focus on transforming stereotypical views with African woman and to celebrate them. In 2021 Gucora focused on women with vitiligo with her artwork showcasing a women with vitiligo. She expresses how the concept of ideal black beauty is focused heavily on melanin but wanted to bring awareness to those who melanin doesn't fully embrace them. Her artwork was shared across many different platforms."'As a black artist, I wanted to portray a strong black woman with vitiligo embracing her skin, because when it comes to beauty, there is no box, it's diverse. #FlipTheScript' - Vanessa Mwangi, Gucora Andu 2020"In 2022, Gucora Andu partnered with UnCover Skincare Co. to create three pieces of artwork. Each piece focused on breaking the bias and sparking conversation around gender-based bias. Gender Based Violence - Violence against women and girls is rooted in gender-based discrimination. An urgent bias still so deeply rooted in society. Periods - Hushed whispers, stuffing pads in your jacket when going to the bathroom, leak alert, period pain, period code names are all still part of the natural and healthy yet stigmatized experience of menstruation. The Working Woman - How many of you have been passed on for a great relocation role that would have skyrocketed your career. The reason? Because you had a husband and a baby to take care of. How many of you have been propositioned for sexual favors? Or discriminated against at work whilst pregnant? Or not paid equally to your male counterparts?

Notable Moments
2020: Gucora Andu was featured on Feature Friday of Circus Maximus. She talks about her journey illustrating. About this moment.

2021: Gucora Andu worked close with Route to Food Initiative to help promote and communicate the purpose of their foundation on social media platforms by creating artwork. More from this moment.

2021: Gucora Andu was one of the shortlisted illustrators (Distinction) of Nami Concours 2021. Her artwork “Gloria” was exhibited during the  2021 Nami Island International Children’s Book Festival and included in the catalogue. Gucora Andu was commissioned to illustrate a short story about a girl from Congo called Gloria who experienced violence in her child marriage to raise awareness of Girls Not Brides in 2021. More about this moment.

2021: Gucora Andu’s “Let It Grow” Illustration was featured on page sixty of AWID’s very first Feminist Realities Magazine in 2021. More from this moment.

2022: Gucora Andu is selected as an artist as apart of the Call to Action Art Commission program by Art+Feminism. One of her pieces is hosted on Wikimedia Commons. About this moment.