Kesiena Wanogho, aka KESSWA (b. 1992) is an interdisciplinary artist from Detroit, MI. As a vocalist, producer, and filmmaker, her work integrates performance, video, music and spoken word to function as a resource for emotional healing. Her work with renowned musician Shigeto, “Is My Mind A Machine Gun?” (2021) premiered on the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit’s (MOCAD) new media platform Daily Rush and premiered as a performance art piece at Dlectricity’s 2021 Festival. KESSWA is a 2022 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow, and has toured Germany as Musicboard Berlin and Detroit-Berlin Connection’s premier artist-in-residence.

She has performed at Pop-Kultur Festival, Dlectricity and Haldern Pop Festival. She has also performed in support of avant-garde artists such as Esperanza Spalding, Sudan Archives, The Sun Ra Arkestra and Rashaad Newsome at institutions such as The Cleveland Museum of Art, The University of Michigan Museum of Art, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Most recently, she is featured as an artist and producer on Theo Parrish’s DJ-Kick compilation to be released October 29, 2022.