The third installment of the Annual Njabala Exhibition (ANE), titled “Njabala: An Elegy,” is set to conclude next Saturday after commencing at the Makerere Art Gallery in Kampala on March 5. This year’s ANE, held in 2024, delves into the theme of grief through the artistic expressions of Liz Kobusinge (Uganda), Lerato Shadi (South Africa/Germany), Helena Uambembe (South Africa), Letaru Dralega (Uganda), Charity Atukunda (Uganda), and Wambui Kamiru Collymore (Kenya).
While some artists explore personal grief, others delve into communal experiences or a blend of both. Atukunda’s collection of four artworks, including “Joy and Sorrow,” “Dreamscape: A Meeting Point,” “Rituals of Purification,” and “Handle with Care,” exemplifies this multifaceted exploration. “Joy and Sorrow,” crafted from charcoal, soil, mica, glue, and glaze, portrays two sorrowful women adorned with brown embroideries on their dresses. Atukunda explained that this imagery symbolizes the intertwining of joy and sorrow in life. She emphasized the significance of using materials like charcoal and mica, commonly associated with women, to represent the dualities of happiness and grief present in all her artworks.
Atukunda’s works also include “Untitled,” a wooden mingling stick adorned with ink and acrylic paint, reflecting on the grief associated with losing cultural identity due to colonization and Christianization. Inspired by her late father’s thesis on the Christianization of the Bakiga, Atukunda incorporated traditional practices into her art, such as the burial ritual of women with their mingling stick to continue their work in the afterlife.
“Dreamscape: A Meeting Point” explores the impact of Atukunda’s father’s death on her life, while “Rituals of Purification” uses various plants in clay pots to highlight the significance of death rituals among the Bakiga community.
In addition to Atukunda’s poignant pieces, Wambui Kamiru Collymore presents an installation titled “All My Venus Days Series 1 (Kampala, 2024),” which reflects on the processing of grief. Inspired by Taiwanese-American artist Tehching Hsieh, Wambui’s work delves into the collective experience of mourning amid global challenges such as political unrest and economic turmoil.
The exhibition also includes works by Kobusinge, Uambembe, Shadi, and Dralega, each offering unique perspectives on grief and healing through their art.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Njabala Foundation and Archives of Women Artists, Research, and Exhibition (AWARE) organized a symposium at Makerere University, focusing on the overlooked contributions of women artists from the 1960s across the African continent. This symposium aims to shed light on the stories and identities of these artists and explore their impact on early postcolonial narratives.
Overall, the Njabala Exhibition serves as a platform for collective reflection on loss, healing, and resilience, offering a compassionate exploration of grief’s transformative power and its capacity to strengthen global bonds.
