Strokes of splendour steeped in emotions

Banadda’s artworks include Reflections of Addiction; Birds in Flight; Fishy Woman; The Libation; The Bond; Nabuzaana; Namunye (The Census); The King (Power Devolution); Serpent of Eden; Waves and Schools; Behind The Face; Crested Crane; The Defiler; and “Rejuvenation.

Nabuzaana depicts an abstract human female body with breasts, tummy and buttocks. According to Banadda, among the Baganda, Nabuzaana is a female deity concerned with duties of the feminine gender. Matters of fertility and the kitchen are her main duties to set right.

Namunye -The Census, shows a bird flying over people, buildings and plantations, while watching over what is on the ground. Banadda says this small bird with black and white strips running from its head to the tail, is a regular visitor in people’s homes and normally takes rest on the roof tops of their houses.

“Among the Baganda, Namunye is sanctified,” Banadda adds. “It is regarded as God’s prime minister and is responsible for carrying out a census on God’s behalf in every household. It is taboo to kill this bird. If one kills it by intention or mistake, he or she is expected to give it a decent burial equivalent to that given to a deceased Muganda,” says Banadda.

He says Fishy Woman shows a figure and a head with features of both a human and a fish. “When viewed in different contexts, a woman can be ‘a fish’ if she is perceived as being attractive, alluring or convincingly feminine. She can be regarded as ‘fishy’ when her character becomes questionable, shady, suspicious, vulgar and abusive,” Banadda says.

 The Defiler, which decries the menace of defilement in society, shows a man in an intimate moment with a female figure in the form of a musical stringed instrument.

“Sex is intimately rhythmic, synchronised and musical. Acts of defilement and rape destroy all these virtues. The psychic and self-esteem of the victim is permanently dented, injured, traumatised and destroyed,” he says, adding, “As a biological musical entity and seductive instrument, the feminine chords are broken and the musicality of the raped individual is lost for life.”

Kizito’s works

He has a collection of 11 paintings that include The Spirits of Innocence; Serenity; Memories of Childhood; Different But One; Their Story; Hope; Once Upon A Time; The Desire To Be free; and Freedom.

Serenity shows three conjoined oval women with four eyes, four arms, and three noses and three mouths, in a sitting posture in a very calm and peaceful mood. Kizito says it is a state of being at peace and a state in life where someone feels free from stress. In this painting, three people in a semi-abstract form are presented with round faces that signify a situation of peace.

“The oval forms dominate this painting to remind us about oneness and the responsibility humanity has to struggle for peace and unity.”

Memories of Childhood shows a woman in an oval shape carrying her baby in her arms.

“This painting is rooted from my personal childhood experiences. My mother is the parent I knew all my life. I did have a father. But my mother is the person who played an important role in my life,”Kizito says.

He adds: “It is through our connection to our mothers that our character is formed. We later share this with the people we marry or we develop relationships with. In this painting, I pay tribute to my mother and to many wonderful other mothers who have nurtured many leaders of our societies.”

Female themes

According to Kizito, we are all different. We are born of different parents, but we always meet at one stage in life, a message that Different But One painting, which has three conjoined oval women with four eyes, four arms and three noses and three mouths in a sitting posture, brings out.

Once Upon a Time has a nude woman lying down, while resting her right arm and left hand on a stool.  Kizito says it tells the story of the origin of man. “It is a narrative about Eva, the mother from whom we descended. It is a story about Nambi, the mother of the Baganda. The painting shows that female nudity is a sign of innocence, liberty, fulfilment and beauty,” he explains.

The Spirits of Innocence shows five nude women made of different colours with large eyes embracing each other standing on an oval multicoloured coloured carpet.

“From a social perspective, it tells a story of five women whose mission is to challenge the status quo that discourages public female nudity display and pay blind attention to the display of male nudity. The painting is about women challenging the hypocrisy of our men-dominated society,” Kizito says.

Sizing up the artists

Writing in the exhibition catalogue, Jude Kateete says Kizito and Banadda are masters in the trade and have mentored a number of Ugandan artists through their indelible legacies such as academia and art practitioners. The exhibition Strokes of Splendour leaves behind a legacy of artworks in colours that speak to the spirit of the age in which the local artists takes centre stage in a number of stripes: as a public intellectual, and as an intellectual and social commentator.

“…The intellectual fervor that matches their artistic energy, and the social commentary and emotions evoked in their work, is based on their reflective spirit. Their visual analysis through the painting medium is intended to appeal to the broader audience and invoke internal thoughts, so that the viewer can understand more about the images and their embodied themes and ideas as presented to them through painterly means on canvas,” Kateete adds.