The Art
Art as research. Ritual. Healing technology.
Birungi makes art for the same reason she facilitates healing. Because some things cannot be said. They can only be experienced. Every piece in this collection carries the logic of her practice — ancestral materials, embodied process, and the belief that art is not escape. Art is our way back to ourselves.
The Art
Art as research. Ritual. Healing technology.
Birungi makes art for the same reason she facilitates healing. Because some things cannot be said. They can only be experienced. Every piece in this collection carries the logic of her practice — ancestral materials, embodied process, and the belief that art is not escape. Art is our way back to ourselves.
COMMISSIONED WORKS
Selected installations & public art
INSTALLATION BARK CLOTH FIBRE ART
A Space for Resistance and Renewal
2024 — SCIENCE GALLERY LONDON
A trio of bark cloth structures that provide a gathering place for rest, repair and resistance.
As a self-taught artist, Kawooya came to fibre artistry as a healing practice. Here, she can imagine being liberated from the interlocking forces of systemic racism, capitalism, sexism and ableism.
The artist has chosen regenerative materials traditionally used in Ugandan art: olubugo (bark cloth), banana fibre, raffia and Brixton-grown bamboo. When harvesting bark cloth, artisans wrap the omutuba tree with banana leaf once the bark is removed, which allows the tree to repair and be harvested in future rainy seasons.
The designs feature shield motifs from the Kingdom of Buganda, symbolising protection, and the earthenware pots which tether the structures are filled with plants known for their therapeutic properties.
INSTALLATION SOUNDSCAPE RESEARCH
Cultivating Rhythms of Care
2024 — KLA Art '24 & Makerere Institute of Social Research
Biophilic installation and soundscape drawing from the Ugandan folktale 'Njabala' to reimagine living in harmony.
Africans have rich histories of knowledge production through song, improvised poetry, dance and performance, often inspired by our relationship to nature. These accessible forms of knowledge and teaching are decolonial, being available to the masses with opportunity for participation, creation and exchange.
Ordered in three layers, the installation comprised a woven wall to enclose the space, a veil partition to guide movement and a food and plant display, with questions to initiate conversations on local foods and how we can care for our bodies throughout the menstrual cycle.
From banana fibre on clay-dyed bark cloth, Birungi created a depiction of a crescent moon — speaking to the link of the menstrual cycle to the movement of the moon — and Njabala sleeping during her menstrual period, surrounded by nutritious organic food.
Working with African musicians, they directed a soundscape using the Njabala folk song and natural sounds to reflect the atmospheric qualities of different times of day. The composition features the akogo, flute, guitar, tube fiddle and vocals, arranged to mirror the emotional landscape of a typical menstrual cycle.
MURAL PUBLIC ART COLLABORATION
Black Womxn at Rest
2023 — Kensington & Chelsea Art Week / Black Blossoms, funded by Mayor of London
Large-scale public mural — rest as radical act.
In a time when many people, particularly Black womxn, struggle to make ends meet, rest can seem like an indulgence. This mural conveys that rest is not a luxury but a necessity for survival and resistance. In a world that constantly demands our labour, bodies, and emotional energy, rest is a form of resistance that allows us to reclaim our power and reconnect with ourselves and our communities.
"I began a body of work called 'Sisters Need Sleep' when I realised I had been complicit in dehumanising myself by repeatedly persisting to work in toxic environments while clinically unwell with anxiety and depression. I hope all Black womxn can support each other and themselves in prioritising rest and care." — Birungi
Created in collaboration with Bokani and Bolanle Tajudeen, the mural was informed by community workshops where women shared their personal experiences and insights. Each panel seamlessly came together — a vivid, intuitive, and abundant visual feast about rest, showing various types of rest and inviting passers-by to see themselves in these postures.
"Our collaboration is an important step in my community arts practice. Our conversations have stayed with me and become a part of our mural." — Birungi
SCULPTURE PUBLIC ART COMMUNITY
Peckham in Bloom
2022 — Southwark Council / The World Reimagined
Public art globe sculpture commissioned for the Southwark to Lambeth art trail as part of The World Reimagined.
Breathe in, deeply. Hold your breath and feel your heartbeat. Exhale, ever so slowly. Slow down and create some peace inside you.
You are welcome here, to pause at Peckham in Bloom; a site of rest and restoration, inspired by Black womxn. This is the first sculpture in the 'Sisters Need Sleep' collection, which celebrates Black womxn in rest and nurturing their creativity. All Black womxn deserve a space in Peckham to breathe and to be at ease.
The three incredible Black women you see are Lorna, Audrey and Titilayomi. The love and care they pour into their communities and Southwark inspired me to create an offering that is reminiscent of the tropics they grew up in.
Peckham's Golden Mile is teeming with all the tropical fruit and vegetables that sustained our ancestors and that we enjoy everyday, thanks to farmers in the Caribbean and Africa. Nature restores us, but we in the Global North are responsible for the destruction of the planet and it is indigenous communities in the Global South – and particularly Black womxn and girls who suffer the most. Therefore, we must listen to Black womxn and girls, because they have the answers to help us restore our collective humanity and sustain our planet.
Take some time to turn inwards, pause and reflect. How can you support Black womxn and girls to thrive and nurture our planet, so we can all enjoy papaya, matooke and sugar cane for generations to come?
GALLERY
Collage, portraits & fibre works
Bark Cloth • Self-Portrait
Past Self — You Are Not Hysterical Birungi
Depicted enraged and cowering behind a shield on light bark cloth. A machete cuts through the canvas bearing the words: patriarchy, white supremacy, imperialism, ableism, classism — the forces that taught her to silence herself.
Bark Cloth • Self-Portrait
Present Self — Rest Is
Her past self lays healing beneath the shield. Her present self watches and protects, eyes closed, holding a spear bearing the words 'REST IS'. A banana tree sprouts new growth — healing is continuous.
Bark Cloth • Self-Portrait
Future Self — Fly Birungi Fly
On black lubugo canvas, her future self stands upright and strong — dancing, holding a spear reading 'RESISTANCE', possibly levitating. The shield no longer covers her. She moves towards a fully grown, fruiting banana tree.
Installation • Bark Cloth
A Space for Rest
A protective bark cloth pyramid to reflect on the past, ground in the present and to imagine a thriving future.
Installation • Bark Cloth
Can You Rest?
A provocative sight of rest comprising of a palm fibre mat, bark cloth sheet and basket headrest.
Collage • Fibre Art
Sisters Need Sleep (Remixed)
Three women holding each other — as one rests, two look out.
Collage • Rest
Slow Down Birungi
A figure at rest among layered floral forms
Portrait • Collage
Floral Crown
Golden botanical crown on dark ground with blue undertones
Collage • Dance
Get Down
Three figures in purple batik moving in joyful abandon. Acquired by 180 House.
Collage • Dance
Kiganda Dancers (Remixed)
Four dancers in orange and purple batik with banana leaf canopy
Collage • Dance
Hiplet Ballerinas
Four ballerinas in golden batik — classical meets hip hop, inspired by Homer Bryant's Hiplet technique.
Collage • Dance
Josephine Baker on Matooke
Dancing figure in batik among vibrant banana leaves under starry sky
Collage • Dance
Josephine Baker Blue Leaves
Dancing figure against blue banana leaf backdrop
Collage • Dance
The Dancing Couple (Remixed)
Two figures in golden batik sharing an intimate dance
Portrait • Mixed Media
Afro Aura
Portrait in darkness illuminated by African textile patterns
Step inside. Let the work hold you.
I make art to create sites of rest and portals to support imagining futures where
Black women are thriving. These pieces are not meant to be observed from a
distance - they are meant to be entered. To shift something in you. To remind
your body of what it already knows.
I make art to create sites of rest and portals to support imagining futures where Black women are thriving. These pieces are not meant to be observed from a distance - they are meant to be entered. To shift something in you. To remind your body of what it already knows.
I make art to create sites of rest and portals to support imagining futures where
Black women are thriving. These pieces are not meant to be observed from a
distance - they are meant to be entered. To shift something in you. To remind
your body of what it already knows.
"Touch changes things. Beauty lives in the in-between."
Birungi Kawooya
Wellbeing and liberation artist-researcher, facilitator and cultural custodian. Translating healing, ancestry, and imagination into creative rituals.
NAVIGATE
© 2026 Birungi Kawooya Art. All rights reserved.
"Rest is my right"