Tuesday, 19 Mar 2024
Month: August 2011

Taking art back to communities: The Mabarti Street Art project

The project of taking art to the street that Sadolin is spearheading will give artists and their ‘new audience’ the opportunity to dialogue. The artists will cast their nets beyond the gallery visitors to include local audiences. They will understand each other better and gradually develop images that match their expectations. Mabarti art project has confirmed to the Kampala dwellers and visitors that there is a community of artists in Uganda actively and devotedly practicing art and that these artists would like to reach out to them.

Read More >>

Independence Monument by Gregory Maloba, 1962.

Shifts in Ugandan Art: From a rooted symbolism to philosophy as world-view

Contemporary visual artists in Uganda are not unified by pan-Africanism. They are far removed from pan-Africanist philosophers and their symbolism. Instead, artists like Wasswa Donald, Ismael Kateregga and Edison Mugalu seem to lure the viewer into a dreamscape where one is free to explore ideas of what world one is in.

Read More >>

Can you really find your favourite Ugandan visual artists online?

Eight out of ten Ugandan visual artists publish information about themselves and/or their work online. Facebook is currently the most popular way of maintaining ones online identity, but the full-time artists and the experienced artists maintain a wider range of websites, and seem to benefit from that. Startjournal.org has conducted a survey about artists’ first experiences being online.

Read More >>

A woman with many artistic hats: An interview with Margaret Nagawa

Margaret Nagawa has had many roles and responsibilities participating in Uganda’s fine art world. She has been a student of fine art, a maker of fine arts, a curator, a teacher, a promoter, and a collector of fine arts. And now again, a student of fine arts! Margaret currently lives in Ethiopia but is working on her PhD from Makerere, writing her dissertation on ‘Visual Arts Dissemination and Cultural Translation in East Africa’.

Read More >>

"Changing Kampala", Taga Francis Nuwagaba, 2011 (80x60cm, watercolor on paper)

Behind the Artwork: Taga’s ‘Changing Kampala’

In this new category of articles, Startjournal.org will present the Story Behind an Artwork. We will be interviewing leading East African visual artists about one particular work of art, trying to explain their reasons for and struggles with creating that one piece of art. First out is the Ugandan watercolor master Taga Francis Nuwagaba and his recent painting ’Changing Kampala’ (watercolor on paper, 2011) .

Read More >>

Rosette Ntyefas, Bayimba

Bayimba Festival: Champion of the Arts

Between the 16th and the 18th September, the National Theater and Dewington Road next to it will be a riotous blaze of sound, colour, fashion and the spoken word: The Bayimba Festival is coming to town. But the Bayimba Cultural Foundation is so much more than an annual festival. In this article, Bayimba explains why they host cultural workshops, fund artists, and initiate industry discussions.

Read More >>