/ARTS WEEKLY/ART-UGANDA: Artistic Talent Runs in the Family

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Katy Salmon

NAIROBI, Aug 6 2002 (IPS) - They say artistic talent runs in the family. It is certainly true for sisters Mary Naita and Barbara Lwanga and their younger brother Kigezi David. These three Ugandan siblings are among Uganda’s best-recognised young painters and sculptures.

Their work is currently on display at Nairobi’s Ramoma art gallery, along with that of long-time family friend Kunba Ibrahim. The four sculptors and painters share a studio in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

One of the most striking pieces is Naita’s semi-abstract bust of an African woman, in mixed metals. The woman looks unshakeably powerful and solid, with thick twisted braids.

“At times I want to bring out the strength in an African woman. What can the African woman express, according to their feelings and what is happening right now with women’s empowerment? Can I portray that in my work?” Naita questions.

Naita gets inspiration from her sister, who works in fashion and textile design, as well as sculpture and painting.

“I tend to look at African ornamentation, the way African women dress. Of course I also look at the experimental part, combining different materials and styles,” she explains.

“We were influenced so much by the Western masters and I felt we should try to look back to our own culture and try to use that to express whatever we have inside,” she adds.

The two sisters have been leading lights in Uganda’s annual exhibition called Artistically Speaking Women since it started in 1995.

“In our country women artists were not taken seriously so we had to come up as a group to show the strength we had,” Naita says.

The family have since risen to prominence. Their work is unmistakeable African, featuring a lot of African women and landscapes, but also refreshingly modern in their bold use of colours and abstract shapes.

One things the sisters regret is that most of their fans are expatriates, not locals.

“It’s difficult to get locals involved. They don’t understand abstract art and they don’t appreciate it,” complains Naita.

“Somebody can look at it and fail to get anything out of it. They just leave it at that,” she says.

This is something that Ramoma is working to change.

Ramoma stands for Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art, named after Rahimtulla Tower where it is based in Nairobi’s Upper Hill district. The gallery opened in 2001 and soon established a reputation as one of the most exciting new art spaces in East Africa. It is now being sponsored by the Ford Foundation.

“Ramoma is much better than some of the galleries we have here in Kampala. A gallery has to be active and involve a lot of things to make it interesting, instead of waiting for ages and maybe putting up one exhibition for months and months. Ramoma is a fast growing gallery that keeps on changing,” says Naita.

Ramoma was dreamt up by Mary Collis, a British artist who has lived in Kenya for many years. She wanted to set up a permanent collection of contemporary Kenyan art, so that people would always have a reference point to come to, share and exchange artistic knowledge.

Ramoma’s goals are ambitious – to develop both artists and art lovers in the region by raising the profile of art and providing greater opportunities for Kenyan artists and the public to interact. The gallery’s mission is to win recognition for East African artists – both at home and across the world.

“We need Kenyans to understand what art is and recognise art as a part of life,” says James Muriuki, who works at Ramoma.

Currently, only a very small number of East African artists are able to dedicate themselves fully to their art because they cannot make a living from it. Famous Kenyan artists with an international reputation like Richard Kimanthi are few and far between.

This is not because local artists lack talent — African art has provided the inspiration for work by some of the greatest twentieth century artists, including Pablo Picasso. The problem is the lack of resources, exposure and support.

As well as exhibitions, Ramoma organises lectures, weekly children’s workshops and sponsors local artists to take part in workshops with visiting art experts, for example from the Royal College of Art in London.

Much of the work on display – like that of Ugandan quartet — is abstract or semi-abstract, something many East Africans have not had much exposure to.

Artist James Mbuthia, who manages the gallery, makes it a point of pride to win visitors over to this challenging, modern style.

“Many Kenyans – and Africans – do not know the value of art, particularly of abstract or modern art. Indigenous Kenyans come and say, ‘What is this? I don’t understand it. I wouldn’t buy it,'” he recounts.

“They value a painting in terms of input. We have college girls comment, ‘This person just woke up and smeared paint all over a canvas and charged Ksh30,000. I could do that.'”

One U.S. dollar is equal to 78 Kenya Shillings.

Most of the art that you see in Kenya — for sale in town, or in offices — is very conventional, usually depicting Kenya’s famous wildlife or Maasai tribes-people.

Mbuthia dismisses such paintings as “curio art for tourists”. He says, “I call them boring. There is nothing in them you can admire every day.”

His colleague, Muriuki, is even more scathing.

“They are very well executed but they have no soul,” he charges.

Mbuthia explains how he gets the many sceptical visitors to look at abstract art in a different light.

“It’s not what it looks like. It’s what it feels like to look at. Just like they have trained their ears to listen to music and love it,” he explains.

“Art is a matter of seeing and thinking. You interpret it differently from any other person.

“A conventional painting does not change. A portrait is there and you know it. It cannot remain on your wall forever and keep giving you a different message.

“With these paintings, you see something new every day. They speak to you,” Mbuthia enthuses.

“With modernist abstract art, you have every freedom to use whatever colour you want and drive your message to the viewer.

“We have seen many people begin to realise what art is, to create in their minds real, universal, international art,” he concludes happily.