I’m not trying to be ‘African’. I’m not trying to prove anything. If you want to doubt if it’s African, look at the material the art is made of and look at the person making it. So I’m using local materials and the concepts I put across are indigenous to this place. I actually hate the title ‘African art’ because titles are for people who want to gain from this.
The two artists seem to be working differently and hitting at two opposite ends of an aesthetic but they are together mainly because they work with recycled material. They give a chance and a new life to what would have destroyed our environment if it was just thrown around and not put into good use like they have. Perhaps there work becomes more important now that it hinges unto our living and welfare as humans today.
Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso who gave the medium its first kick would stare in awe if they visited Afriart gallery today as each of these young artists demonstrates a deep understanding of how to ‘cut and paste’ which form the core of the discipline
We had to navigate our way around, we had to prove ourself. There is less of that now, you can be here in Zambia and you have a thousand followers on one of your social networking sites who are interested in what you do. But yeah, I think it’s about having the interest in something and following it through, It is…..I hate to use the word…… passion.
Artist/curator Philip Balimunsi has been appointed curator of Nommo National Gallery, Uganda’s national gallery of art. What are his motives, his plans, his future projects? How important is the Nommo National Gallery for the art scene in Uganda?