The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
And the art of big things
| DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Maria Naita is one of the few women on the Uganda contemporary art scene. She defies stereotypes and exudes a consciousness of her equal rights in a male dominated industry and a readiness to fight for them. She does both painting and sculpture and majored in both at the Margaret Trowel School of Industrial and Fine Art of Makerere University Kampala. Her artworks are evocative of her life story: inner feelings and everyday life experiences.
Naita does not dwell on questions of femininity, feminism and sexuality although her audience can feel feminine side in her work. The women with chiseled features and dressed elegantly in traditional attire on her canvases, suggest the beauty of the African woman that needs to be prized and respected.
Naita’s paintings often carry scenes of the daily lifestyle; from women posing as African queens dressed in traditional garbs, caretakers of the home, to children playing childhood games. Her palette is often energetic and vibrant evoking a serene and vivacious aura that surrounds the home setting. Such “feel good art” is promote peace and tranquility within the community.
In her sculptures; specifically fibre glass, we encounter a bolder artist who is not afraid to take on a genre that is traditionally known to be a preserve for men.
`The Stride,2007’monument sitting opposite the Uganda parliamentary building on Apollo Kaggwa Road, is evidence that the artist is not frightened about size and height. Towering in size, the monument was built by Naita together with a group of artists including Dr. George Kyeyune (her former lecturer at art school) and David Kigozi.
It tells the story of a country (Uganda) moving forward; illustrated in the figurine by the forward moving steps of the three characters in the composition: Father, Mother and Child in the middle. Similarly, `Building the Nation’, sitting in the Rwanda Revenue Authority Premises, Kigali is a sculpture that was built by Naita that depicts two figures: female and male in the activity of building with two palms (branches) arched on either side of the subjects. A palm is a symbol of triumph, victory, peace and eternal life originating ancient East and Mediterranean world.
Her technique of rarely titling her paintings is suggestive of the type of conversations she wants to build with her audience. The untitled artwork enables open interpretation from those who encounter her work. In essence, like a traditional storyteller, she does not want to limit the imagination of her audience. Suffice to say, her figurative paintings are textured to stimulate immediate discourse between artwork and public. Conversely, in her sculptures- either made of fibre glass or hardwood- she is conscious to inspire familiarity through the choice of subject matter and material that are relevant to the community within which the figurine is positioned.
Naita’s proficiency as a story-teller on canvas and he ability to challenge the prejudices attached to the concept of womanhood in a patriarchal society like Uganda, make her an exceptional. She inspires many young upcoming female artists who feel success is possible in a male dominated industry.
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Maria Naita’s career spans over two decades and she has been collected locally and internationally. Image courtesy of the Web
