“Artists are just another manifestation of human rights activists.” – says artist and activist Deeyah Khan to the United Nations.
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Category: Investigative Analysis
“Performance art is for very strong people, in my view; you put yourself in a dangerous situation and are able to come out of it.” says Ato’o.
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In the art room of Greenhill Academy Secondary school in Kampala, students have been transformed from carrying just a pencil and sketchpad to textbooks and notebooks. For most of these students art was never theoretical, now they are pushed to research and write essays on the subjects of Renaissance art and Greek and Roman architecture.
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By Eria Nsubuga Twelve students from Nkumba University’s School of Commercial Industrial Art and Design (SCIAD) collaborated to produce a piece inspired by European masters. How did they choose the Picasso and van Gogh? As their supervisor, I tasked
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I continue to reflect on Lubumbashi and feel affirmed that discussions, spaces and documentation is the way to make the little we have into something bigger and better.
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From the start, Uganda’s contemporary visual arts were defined by the absence of their own ‘authentic’ tradition. Throughout the early twentieth century, Makerere University’s European directors sought either to stimulate a latent African-ness of their own imagining in the students, or to push them into the future via an exposure to foreign experiments in representation
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Start Journal used this informal education space to invite writers to engage with on-the-spot writing opportunities. We set a brief and surprisingly, all seven writers picked different displays and different approaches to documenting the work.
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Over the last two decades specific diaspora curators (and theorists) of contemporary African art have become preoccupied with nationalism. Academic minds have tried to explain the internal-external dislocation experienced by the artist. However, the theoretical and thick the arguments do not address this fundamental ‘street’ or self problem.
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Competitions can be classrooms. The Spoken Word Project in Uganda could be exactly that — a space to teach and learn.
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The Venice Biennale undoubtedly remains one of the most important platforms for international contemporary art and its market. A national participation allows for visibility, for a national statement and leaves a footprint in certain version of the international history of art.
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A platform like the Rift Valley Festival can be used to strategically develop ones career, but it is dependent on the vision of the musician. There is no point in going there to just collect contacts. One must follow up with emails or phone calls in order to develop relationships or explore future collaborations.
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And yet, like so many other dictators, not only was Amin a frightening, deeply disturbed man, but he was also effortlessly capable of ineffable charisma and charm. The president clearly enjoyed putting on a show.
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Even though the artists are trying to break the typical gender moulds, they are expressing themselves by using stereotypical characters. This counter acts their intentions, and instead of inventing new traditions, they are complying with old reactionary traditional values.
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A great number of opportunities at DOA DOA in Jinja this month were snatched by musicians who had managers, PR agents, artist statements and CDs available — in short, professional musicians. This was further explained in a talk by Andrew Dabber about effective marketing. Serubiri Moses reports from DOA DOA.
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Unarguably he was one of the most-read writers from the African continent, selling more than 8 million copies. His book Things Fall Apart is the most widely read book in African literature and the most translated. While a whirlwind of tributes has poured in in the wake of Achebe’s death, we have been left to ponder his contributions to African literature and the literature body generally, and to see if he rightfully deserved the continent’s honor: The father of modern African literature. And while at it, also weigh the relevance of his work to the present generation.
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Kadongo Kamu is a musical subculture within Uganda which roots began in the 1950s with the guitarists Christopher Sebadduka and Elly Wamala. This article deals with how this culture has been subverted from mainstream culture through active technological and infrastructural modernization in Uganda from the 1960s till present.
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“However beautiful Ugandan craft products may be, it will be difficult for local artisans to succeed in a global market unless certain conditions can be met. … In my opinion, tight deadlines, consistent quality, innovation, committed partners, and good communication are fundamental to successful participation in global trade, over and above the products themselves.” Kirsten Scott writes about international craft collaborations.
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From the exposure many Ugandan musicians such as Navio, The Mith, Keko, Lillian Mbabazi and Maurice Kirya are receiving on Twitter, it would not be inappropriate to say that popular Ugandan music is experiencing a boom in Africa. Unfortunately, this has exposed their largely Western aspirations, creating the daunting questions such as: Who is the audience on Twitter? Which culture does one produce for? And, is it possible to produce a cultural following on Twitter?
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Faisal Kiwewa, the Director of Bayimba Cultural Foundation, spoke on “Arts and Arts Education: Lovely or Essential?” on 12th March 2012 at The Hub in Kamwokya. It hinged on principles gleaned from Eliot W. Eisner’s The Arts and the Creation of Mind and the verve of Bayimba’s work with local artists.
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“As the eighth edition of the Wazo Talking Arts proved, while the expectation is of artists to be at the forefront of debate and to challenge the status quo, artists are also a product of their culture, religion, and politics; their work cannot be separated from their experience. In other words artists are human beings, artists can be frightened, and artists can be ideologically conservative or liberal. If there is one attribute that artists need to create meaningful, challenging, even great work in the face of possible censorship, then that attribute is courage.” Farida Nabalozi reflects on Censorship and the Arts in Uganda.
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