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About John Valentine Muthomi's work:

Photo Theme:

The Weight of Culture and the Voice of the generation

Photo Story:

It's SAIMUN 2026. Day 3. The AC is fighting for its life, everybody is running on 3 hours of sleep and cheap conference coffee, and we are all trying to sound like seasoned UN diplomats while secretly Googling "What does abstain mean again?"

For two days it was blazers. Ties. "Honorable delegates, distinguished chairs..." You know the vibe.

Then Day 3 drops and the Chair is like: "Tomorrow is Culture Day. Come representing YOU."

And that's when the whole conference GLOWED UP.

Forget New York Fashion Week. This was Nairobi Culture Week. Suddenly the hall that looked like a boring UN livestream turned into a whole continent. You had kitenge, you had kanzus, you had hijabs with rhinestones, you had Ankara suits that would make your dad jealous. Everyone was eating.

And then there was HER.

Girl. I can't even explain it.

In the middle of all the laptops, mics, and those little black nameplates, she pulled up in FULL Maasai royalty. Like, not a costume. Not a "themed outfit". The real thing.

The red shuka? Immaculate. The beaded choker? Handmade perfection — red, green, yellow, white, blue — every bead saying something. The forehead piece with the little silver coins that shake when you move? The teal braids tied neatly in the back? The big white beaded earrings? She understood the assignment and then did extra credit.

Best part? She was NOT doing it for the picture.

That's what made me run for my camera.

Everyone else was looking around, taking selfies, fixing their outfits. Not her. She was LOCKED IN. Eyes forward. Listening to the speaker like "yes, world peace is important, but so is my people's land rights." She had the face of someone who was representing her country for the debate, but also representing her grandmother, her village, her whole culture.

You can literally see it in the blur behind her — the girl in green kitenge, the queen in the white turtleneck and glasses, the hijabi babe. All of us were there. All different. All proud. But she was the moment.

And that's the whole point of SAIMUN. They tell us youth are the future leaders, but on that day I realized: we are not waiting to be leaders in the future with someone else's identity. We are leaders NOW, with beads on.

I took this photo because this is what diplomacy SHOULD look like. Not just suits in Geneva. But a young African girl, in her culture, sitting at the decision-making table like she owns it. Because she does.

She didn't have to shout "I am African and proud." The beads said it. The shuka said it. The focus said it.

Caption for the haters: Culture is not old-fashioned. Culture is the drip that never goes out of style.

In a room designed to simulate the world, she reminded us where the world actually begins: at home

How long has John Valentine Muthomi loved photography:

For 5 years now

How they discovered their passion for photography:

I discovered it when I realized I remember moments better in photos than in words. I started by taking photos of my friends at school events, and I noticed my photos told a story that people kept coming back to. For me, photography is how I document our generation — we are proud, we are cultural, and we belong at global tables My camera is just how I say it louder.

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