Artful Reflections

It’s easy to take the abundance of local materials available in Uganda for granted. But for Birungi Kawooya, a Ugandan-British artist based in the UK, staple materials like lubogo (bark cloth) and banana fibre were not previously available. They were materials she grew up with and that defined art in her home. They offered a unique visual language because of their stunning textural qualities and their cultural significance in Uganda. During her residency with 32° East, Kawooya has relied on these materials to process, visualize, and release past trauma. To do this, she made a triptych of self-portraits on lubogo of various colors. One recreates a familial trauma that left her feeling invalidated and uses lubogo as a metaphorical shroud to lay the past down with care. In this piece she is able to portray hurt and anger where before she would have framed it in positivity, something she refers to as a one-sided experiment as each side of the emotional spectrum is part of black womxnhood. In the second piece, she showcases herself in the present, supported by her resting self. Rest becomes essential to wellness in the present and moving on from the past. In the third piece, in the future, she imagines herself as strong, agile, and elevated. in this portrait she is in movement and moved on from the cocoon that encompassed a depressive era. This triptych was showcased at the Njabala Annual Exhibition at Makerere Art Gallery, along with an installment of a space where people were encouraged to rest on the day of exhibition. Following this collection, her final installation is a pyramid made from lubogo with equilateral sides for structural integrity. The pyramid houses a space that invites the audience to enter and rest. Rest, well-being and mental health are core themes in Kawooya’s work. She began practicing self-portraiture as way to hold conversation with herself. This equipped her to better engage in dialogue about mental health and black womxnhood. Digging into mental health, well-being, and the diasporic experience has required vulnerability around vital questions of identity. Feeling safe, welcome, and appreciated by the artist community at 32° East and around the Njabala Foundation has made for a meaningful experience. “I feel like I’m being seen for who I am in my entirety. As I truly am,” she says. Feeling accepted reaffirms her as an artist and reaffirms that there is more than one way of being Ugandan. That barriers of distance and language don’t have to diminish her identity. She plans to carry her residency experience back into the spaces where she tutors art in the UK to help others through similar self-reflection as part of the artistic process. Written by Gloria Kincoco. watch a video of me taking you inside the ‘a space for rest’ installation here

FUTURE – Fly Birungi, fly! Medium: Bark cloth, banana fibres, wax pastel and raffia Size: 2.5 x 1.3 m Year: 2023 On a black lubugo canvas, my future self is upright and strong. The multiplicity shown in her stance; she is dancing, holding a spear, a shield and possibly levitating as the expanse of black lubugo reflects the myriad of choices and modes of being open to her. The spear reads “RESISTANCE”. I hold a shield, it no longer covers me. I have my back to the viewer as I move towards a fully grown banana tree whose three leaves are full and torn. The banana tree is fruiting. @thenapministry tells us that rest is resistance. I choose to acknowledge and divest from the fear ingrained in me as a human being socialised as disabled working class African woman from South London. These classifications are used to terrorise me and to suppress what my body and spirit knows to be true. That I am divine. I am enough. We all are. When I’m well rested, I’m imaginative and I love to help others dream outloud. It’s really special. And when we’re together, living out our dreams, we free ourselves. How are you freeing yourself today? You can view my past, present and future self portraits at Makerere University Gallery, thanks to the Njabala Foundation @sights_of_resistance exhibition “Holding Space” Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm and Saturday 10am – 4pm until Saturday 8 April Thank you to 32° East Ugandan Arts Trust, Arts Council England, Moleskine Foundation, Akka Project, Linda Umutesi and FG Foundation. See my african artwork here

In this scene, my past self lays healing from the attacks sustained in the past underneath the shield. A representation of my present day self watches and protects, eyes closed, holding a spear bearing the words “REST IS” . A banana tree is sprouting and the cut banana tree from the past scene is growing a new leaf.

When you’ve been made to feel less than a human being worthy of care, through systematic discrimination because your race, gender, disability and class differ to the powers that be, over and over again, you begin to spot to patterns. I needed to rest, regulate my nervous system and rebuild my sense of self and an expression of that is with my first self portraiture series.

When you’ve been made to feel less than a human being worthy of care, through systematic discrimination because your race, gender, disability and class differ to the powers that be, over and over again, you begin to spot to patterns. I needed to rest, regulate my nervous system and rebuild my sense of self and an expression of that is with my first self portraiture series.