Leading Ugandan sculptor tackles the male chauvinism of an ancient board game “Why would anyone ask me why I chose to present omweso? It is simply part of our material cultural heritage!” That is how passionately Dr. Rose Namubiru Kirumira feels about the subject of her current exhibition of sculptural …
Read More »Day-dreaming Kasagga awakens
An anonymous writer insight-fully observed that “although a dream is a very strange phenomenon and an inexplicable mystery, far more inexplicable is the mystery and aspect our minds confer on certain objects and aspects of life”. This mindset was monumental in the introduction of surrealism in both literature and visual …
Read More »ART: Ogenrwoth dares the masters
The heady era of the Italian Renaissance that took place between 1400 and 1600 AD saw some of the greatest outpouring of artistic production of all time. This epoch produced the most recognisable names in art in history such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael Sanzio, to mention but …
Read More »Abe’s sticky situations
Stacey Gillian Abe. This name is fast sounding loud gongs in the realm of art, echoing the rising stature of a young and ambitious artist who has had to knock down barriers for a breakthrough in an art discipline that is probably the least practiced in Uganda and elsewhere, writes Nathan …
Read More »Ugandan-born talent shines on world stage
Nakaweesa rises on dance: Ugandan-born talent shines on world stage Catherine Nakaweesa is possibly among Uganda’s leading dancers and choreographers On stage she is able to turn her body into a malleable form that she can twist and turn at will to make very complex dance moves to the beat of …
Read More »Mystery of the coco de mer
As an artist in the Seychelles, the seed of a palm tree called the coco de mer or `coconut of the sea’ found in this idyllic cluster of islands of 93,000 people, never ceases to fascinate me. It is huge and strangely formed of two domed parts that, depending …
Read More »Simple art for simple minds
How limited exposure limits producers of culture When artist Maria Kizito of the Makerere art school returned to Uganda in 2005 from Ireland with a PhD in studio practice, he sought to overturn the prevailing mundane formal techniques of art expressions that he found boring, untenable and simply antiquated. But …
Read More »Eco-art novelty
Turning landscapes into canvas Bruno Ruganzu started out as a struggling artist about 10 years ago. His goal was to etch a mark on the patronage in order to survive. Starting out by painting on canvas, he made art that had marks of his ambition. But his turning point came …
Read More »Inspiration from a master
Fabian Mpagi’s legacy lives on through Waddimba Whether he recognized it as such or not, when President Yoweri Museveni officiated at an exhibition of contemporary Ugandan art in Vienna, Austria in 1992, he launched the re-entry of the nation onto the global art market.The two Ugandan artists exhibiting were Geoffrey …
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