Tuesday, 19 Mar 2024
Month: December 2011

Photo by Anne Kari Garberg

What is Original? Do-cultures and don’t-cultures

The current generation of recording artists and performers of Ugandan music is one that has not been talked about much. This could be in fact, that there is very little in terms of music to speak of. You could summarize an entire decade of music in just a few sentences; very little music has been produced in the last 20 or so years which has gotten the entire country talking about an issue, an epidemic or even a political regime. Serubiri Moses analyses originality.

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From the Geoffrey Mukasa-exhibition at AKA Gallery, Kampala, 2011.

Geoffrey Mukasa: The enduring painter

“As an artist Geoffrey Mukasa was never afraid to take on new challenges; he taught us to be bold and courageous. He straddled the past and the present and his contribution to the young subject of contemporary art in Uganda has been immense. Mukasa stretched the borders of painting beyond the expected, and deservedly; today he is celebrated as a leading Ugandan painter of the 20th century who was key in raising the profile of art in Uganda. Mukasa’s legacy will continue to reverberate across the country and beyond for many years to come.” Dr. George Kyeyune reviews the recent Mukasa-exhibition at AKA Gallery (Tulifanya).

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Maurice Kirya at This is Uganda, 2011. Photo by Will Boase (www.willboase.com). All rights reserved.

Is this really Uganda?

The idea of a festival of the arts in the Ugandan sun was welcomed. Like others themed alike, This Is Uganda was expected to celebrate the Uganda free spirit in all cultural senses. In its second year, TIU shows it has set out to celebrate a different culture. Even when the organisers expected the event to be endorsed by a big number of revelers, at the end they were not happy with the turnout. At this rate, TIU might need to change tack in the next edition.

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Participants at the East African Art Summit 2011.

East African Art Summit 2011: The coming together of creative minds

“The time has finally arrived that Africa begin to look to Africa for answers. We are starting to think about making East Africa our market place. But we can not go far without drastically improving the quality of our products. For too long we have made inefficient production schedules and products. On the other hand, a myriad of questions are raised to which answers cannot be immediately found. Still, these questions must be asked and answered if our art is to grow into the cultural void in which we find ourselves.” Ugandan visual artist SANE reflects on the East African Art Summit.

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Front cover of the collection "World of Our Own and other stories", published by Femrite Uganda, 2011.

A Writers’ Residency bearing fruits

This writers’ residency, organised by Femrite (Uganda Women Writers Association) in partnership with The Swedish Institute, is the first of its kind in Uganda. On the whole, it has been a successful endeavour. For the year 2010 it was held in Jinja. It attracted participants from Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, and of course Uganda. The fruits from the 2010-series are documented in a publication by Femrite: ”World of Our Own”. This short story collection was launched on November 24th 2011. Lillian A. Aujo reviews.

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One of Start's founding members, Henry Mzili Mujunga, at This is Uganda-festival

Startjournal.org’s hits and misses: Celebrating the one-year anniversary of being online

Start has succeeded in establishing an arts journal writing in-depth articles about the Ugandan art scene. We have kept our frequency and given around fifty independent writers a site to express themselves thoroughly about the arts. We have kept the variety in types of articles; the reviews, the interviews, the investigation and the more promotional story. But we still have a long way to go.

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