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Art in
Uganda
Henry Mzili Mujunga
Background.
In Uganda when one talks about art it stipulates three
things. One may think about the beautiful artefacts like
mats, table spreads and baskets whose production
occupies a good number of hours of many a housewife. Or
better still the numerous utilitarian items like stools,
headgear and body accessories made from beads most of
which are imported from Kenya.
The third and rather obvious evocation is the paintings,
sculptures and drawings that are produced as a result of
formal and informal training.
Among artists and art promoters in Kampala, art refers
to the paintings (Kampala artists are of late obsessed
with painting; a tendency dictated by the ready market
for them) and sculptures produced in conformity with
western aesthetics. The genesis of this western streak
can be traced to the adventurous verandah classes that
were conducted by Margaret Trowel1, a British pioneer of
art education in Uganda during the 30s and 40s.
But today art scholars in Kampala want to trace Uganda’s
artistic heritage through the numerous indigenous
cultural regalia emanating from virtually every ethnic
grouping in the country. Among the thirty or so tribes
of Uganda, the Luo and Karimojong of northern Uganda, as
well as the Bahima of western Uganda are the most
artistically disposed. The Acholi (a minor ethnic group
among the Luo) and Karimojong have been producing
beautiful baskets, beadwork, stools, and fluffy headgear
as well as indulged in colourful body painting and
scarification2. The Bahima of Ankole3 were traditionally
famous for their elaborate and meaningful wall
paintings. Their cattle culture has been well documented
on the white walls of their grass thatched round huts.
There are still traces of art practice among the other
tribes but their products were wrongfully classified as
crafts by the pioneers of art education in Uganda. The
common practices of hand weaving of exquisite baskets
among the Baganda was classified as Handicraft or
domestic science by the education system4. It is only of
late that there is a major outcry at university level
about the irrelevancy of producing ‘nice’ decorations in
form of paintings and sculptures forthe house. A school
such as the Margaret Trowel school of Industrial and
Fine arts (MTSIFA) of Makerere University has embarked
on a vocationalisation programme of most of its
curriculum with emphasis on the industrial and
functional rather
than aesthetic aspects of the art works produced. This
has led to the introduction of new course units like
weaving, furniture design and jewellery as well as
fashion design and photography, all of which ensure that
the students can be readily absorbed into the commercial
enterprises in the country.
Contemporary practice
Uganda’s position is a unique one in the East African
region in that it pursues an art education system that
yields artists with university degrees in the fine arts.
One therefore finds that whereas in Kenya majority of
the successful artists are self-taught, those in Uganda
are university graduates. Without seeking to undermine
our Kenyan counterparts, one would assume that the
Ugandan artists have a more sophisticated role to play
in the advancement of art in the region. In fact there
is this joke that where as the Kenyans have the
financial resources, it is the Ugandans who have the
brains to manage them. The bulk of the old wine in
EastAfrican art has been in one way or another
influenced by Uganda through products like Elimo Njau
(Kenya), Sam Ntiro (Tanzania),Jak Katalikawe (a self
taught Ugandan living in Nairobi), Francis Nagenda
(Ugandan sculptor) and Pilkington Ssengendo (Ugandan
painter)5. These have taught or influenced a whole
generation of East African artists. Prominent among
Nagenda and Ssengendo’s students are George Kyeyune
(sculptor and painter), Rose Kirumira (sculptor and net
worker), Dr. Kizito Maria Kasule (art scholar), Godfrey
Banadda (painter) and Francis lfe (painter). This group
comprises of the academic type that believes that an
artist cannot etch out a living on art alone but should
also pursue other related jobs like teaching in order to
make ends meet. There is however, a group of young
artists who have embraced graphic design as a major
absorbent of job seeking artists. With design firms like
Satchi and Satchi, The New Vision and The Monitor, young
artists are grasping the relevant skills in computer
aided design in order to make themselves employable.
However, there are a handful of brave artists who have
managed to survive on art as their only source of
income. Artists like Geoffrey Mukasa (painter), Steven
Kasumba (painter), Taga Francis Nuwagaba (wild life
painter), Paulo Akiki (painter), Fred Mutebi
(printmaker) and yours truly have all made the pursuit
of art their sole station in life. Only a few people can
thrive on the market for fine art because it is a small
one. Many young artists have tried to follow in the
footsteps of these men but often fall along the way and
regress to teaching or street dealing6, a popular
practice among the youth of Kampala. The situation is
made worse by the existence of only a handful of
galleries, which do not even offer full patronage to
their artists.
Tulifanya gallery, certainly the leading gallery in the
country, is hosted in little bungalow with hardly any
space for ten (100x80) cm canvases. The ladies who run
it (one Ugandan, one German and the other English) have
done a lot to ensure a steady but small market for the
handful of artists who are lucky enough to beat their
tight selection. Other galleries like Nommo, Okapi and
Afriat have their own bulk of managerial and logistical
constraints. One of the most outstanding deficiencies
that characterize these galleries is that none of them
offers the buffer services that are desperately needed
by the artists. Artists the world over crave for dealer
purchases and free promotion. One even reaches a point
of longing for a
jj contract with the gallery, a position loathed by many
artists in more advanced art markets. Therefore in the
absence of any form of financial support from their
galleries, artists depend on the few sales they make in
their one or two annual expositions. Moreover these
sales depend heavily on the expatriate community in
Kampala who select and siphon out the best that Uganda
can offer. The Ugandan artist is yet to transform his
product into a relevant commodity to be consumed by his
fellow country folks.
Art organisation
However, not all is grim about the Ugandan art story.
Due to increased and improved flow of information in the
region and the world in general, Ugandan artists have
began to associate more with one another as well as put
out feelers for other artists in the region. Uganda
ArtistsAssociation (UAA), an old art fraternity started
in the sixties, has, after a long nap, experienced an
upsurge of activity. Under the direction of young,
knowledgeable and ambitious leaders the likes of
Margaret Nagawa, Francis Taga and Saana Gateja, it hosts
regular art fellowships at Nommo gallery and has opened
up its resource centre in a venue provided by its patron
Lieutenant General ElyTumwine, himself an artist. Under
the wings of
UAA new Associations and art groups based on common art
genre and interests have sprung up. The Uganda
Printmakers Association (UPMA) is a body that provides a
forum for addressing printmaker’s problems. It provides
them with a print studio and organises annual
exhibitions both locally and internationally. Fred
Mutebi and myself happen to be prominent members of this
association.
Other active groups include Index Mashariki, a group of
seven artists who indulge in community based art. They
have managed to carve themselves a niche in the European
art market through their Dutch promoter. Kani is another
group consisting of two sisters, Barbara Lwanga and
Maria Naita and a brother David Kigozi plus a cousin
Kamya. This family has revolutionalised sculpture in
Uganda. Another important organisation is the Ngoma
Arts, a Ugandan version of Triangle arts of UK. Because
of the increasing demand for artistic cooperation in the
areas of residences, workshops and exhibition, the Ford
foundation has sponsored the establishment of art organs
in Kenya (Wasaani), Uganda (Ngoma) and Tanzania (Rafiki).
Similar organs to facilitate networking have been
established in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and Egypt among
others. These organs are linked by the Internet to
Triangle arts run by the Gasworks studio of UK. The only
problem plaguing this beautiful development is elitism,
which ensures that only the same few privileged artists
participate in the programmes all the time. Mzili moves
from Uganda to Kenya and X comes over to Uganda. Then X
moves to Zimbabwe and Mzili goes to Bangladesh. In the
end Mzili ceases to be a productive artist and instead
becomes a globetrotter of sorts. One wonders as to when
he gets time to implement what he has experienced during
his travels, leave alone share that information with his
colleagues back home.
Art and development
While a number of artists in Kampala are trying to
involve themselves in community development schemes, the
average Ugandan artist is still operating as an isolated
genius whose true value to the community is yet to be
ascertained. Uganda Debt Network (UDN) has worked with
Nommo gallery to address issues of corruption in the
society and there are in existence many women’s groups
under NAWOU7 working with rural women to improve the
standard of handicrafts for export underAGOA8. Artists
have also tried to involve themselves in addressing
political and social issues such as the heinous war in
the north of the country 9and HIVAIDS. But their voice
is still a mummer in the dark.
Dreams and aspirations.
In Uganda today the talk in art circles is networking:
creating a super link for all artists on the continent
working in concert and influencing their societies with
a common voice. Art is a vehicle for cultural
advancement. For Africa to have a unified culture only
ensures a more fortified stand against Western Imperial
Cultural Erosion (WICE). That is why we in Uganda
support artistic forums like the Kora Awards, Face of
Africa, Big Brother Africa and the UTAKE music syndicate
all of which seek to unite Africa in areas of fashion,
style and the arts. The extent to which the West and
Central African art genre has been embraced by Ugandan
painters and sculptors denotes a major shift from
Euro-centric to Afro-centric influences in their art.
Notes
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Trowell was director of the Uganda
Museum from 1939 to 1945 when she initiated art
classes and wrote two influential studies, classical
African sculpture (1954) and African design (1960),
Sidney L. Kasfir (1999).
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Some tribe in Uganda like the Acholi,
Kiiga, Kakwa and Lugbara make incisions on their
bodies using sharp instruments as a mark of
belonging to the tribe.
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Ankole is a large part of western
Uganda that comprises of the districts of Ntungamo,
Mbarara and Bushenyi.
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Missionary schools did not teach art,
they taught handicraft. The colonizers haughtily
believed that Africans were unable to create fine
arts. This was a prejudice at the very heart of the
racist concept of black humans being ‘primitive’ and
at a lower evolutionary stage, Evelyn Nicodemus
(1994).
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The entire artists have a connection
with the Makerere art school directly or indirectly.
Katarikawe’s story is an interesting one. He began
his career as a driver to David Cook, a Makerere
University professor who gave him paper and coloured
pencils.
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There are streets in Kampala that are
popular for their group of smartly dressed young men
who broker anything ranging from second hand cars to
houses.
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National Association of Women’s
Organisations of Uganda unites and coordinates all
NGOs that deal with women’s issues in Uganda.
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The American government established
the African Growth Opportunity Act to support
export-oriented programmes by African countries.
Uganda has embarked on the export of fabrics and
handicrafts to the US.
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Uganda has been experiencing a civil
war in the north between the National Resistance
Movement (NRM) government and the rebels of the
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony
since 1987.
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