Latest art movers and shakers

How they impact the Kampala art scene By DOMINIC MUWANGUZI

1. Afriart Gallery

The first private art gallery established by a Ugandan artist, Daudi Karungi to exhibit contemporary art from Uganda. It has inspired many artists to work more creatively in order to exhibit here. Through such display and engagements, it has been able to launch and promote art careers of individual artists on the local and global scene. The gallery has exhibited and promoted artists like Eria Sane Nsubuga, Stacey Abe Gillian, Fred Mutebi, and Xenson Ssenkaaba.

2. 32º East

The art space offers an artist residency program to encourage creativity and innovation through research. The research process of working is made easier through access to a resource centre installed with free-internet and literature on contemporary art from Africa and globally. Additionally, the KLA ART festivals like KLA ART 012 and 014 organised and presented by the institution has encouraged more art awareness and understanding among members of the public. They stage installations in the public spaces around Kampala.

3. Ronex Ahimbisimbwe

His experimenting with different techniques and media in his craft is inspirational. He works with different art forms like installations, photography, digital art and painting. All his artworks are functional with intent to attract the public to art. In 2008, he established a Facebook digital archive, Art Uganda, that records, preserves and showcases art events and exhibitions around Kampala. He’s also the brainchild of the Makerere Alumni annual exhibition that brings together former art students of MSTIFA who are actively involved in art production to showcase their creativity in one space and network.

4. Robinah Nansubuga

Nansubuga is an independent curator who has done a number of art shows around Kampala; including an archival photo exhibition of Luigi Amedeo’s (Duke of Abruzzi, Italy) expedition of the Rwenzori Mountains. She is a hands-on- curator with no formal training in discipline that is still new. She has embraced it with passion and energy. Her dynamism is already a motivation to young curators like Martha Kazungu who want to walk in her footsteps.

5. Bruno Ruganzu

A co-founder of Eco-Art Uganda, Ruganzu is a young lecturer at Kyambogo University where he graduated in 2010. He is a community artist who has built installations like children playgrounds in slums of Bwaise and Banda- Kireka. He uses plastics (plastic bottles) and glass bottles to construct his installations and, therefore, engages with the public on the critical topic of recycling and innovation. The artist has inspired several artists, several of these his former students, into the production of functional art using plastics. He is the curator of TedX Kampala and founder of Ubuntu Talks.

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Images courtesy of the Web