Source: The Independent
Top woodcut printer chisels for the woman:
As celebrations to mark 50 years of Uganda's independence continue, questions are being asked about the right way forward in the next 50 years? Many suggestions are being thrown about but one of the most striking, at least artistically, is by Fred Mutebi; Uganda's leading woodcut printmaker thinks this country needs a woman president. He says only a woman leaders can correct the many mistakes the male leaders have committed in the past.
You may agree or disagree but when Mutebi puts this philosophy in visual form with an exhibition he has named, Uganda at 50: A Bargain for Woman, he is quite persuasive.
His timely exhibition, which is ongoing at Afriart Gallery in Kamwokya, does not only rouse the idea of women in leadership, but also stirs debate about whether it can really work for Uganda.
"I do believe personally that Uganda needs a woman president now. But I also ask my audience what they think. After all, I could be right or wrong," says the artist.
Mutebi, who has an experience of over 20 years as a painter and printmaker, often employs this technique of open dialogue in his work. Enlisting the views of the audience is an essential part of his exhibitions and he often goes out of his way to create an intimate atmosphere to facilitate this participatory art experience.
In the ongoing exhibit, which features eight art pieces, there is a piece called the "Forth last Bargain: (Count Down)".
In this piece, the master printmaker futuristically invokes the much anticipated political terrain of the 2016 general elections in Uganda and asks women (the minority elite) to save the country alongside their rural contemporaries (the majority uneducated) by joining the race for the most important political office in the country: the presidency.
He uses images of women clustered together, all wearing spectacles and carrying baskets. The spectacles are symbolic to the idea of being visionary and in this context the artist believes women are visionary human beings, and the custodians of homes and the nation.
The baskets they carry, filled with food stuff, are symbolic of the benefits that can come from their leadership. The clustering is a metaphor for the bargaining for others; in this context the rest of humanity.
In all his figurative compositions, Mutebi depicts the woman as an icon of leadership and not merely a beautiful object; adorning beautiful colors and chiseled features or as a beast of burden; laden with pots, babies and firewood.
"My work is thematic to women leadership meant to inspire the art fraternity to unravel the negativity that has been associated with womankind by most artists," he writes in his manifesto for the exhibition.
Another piece in the exhibition, "Tired people; blind leading and looking for... (A bantu Bakoowu)" is equally politically poignant. It depicts what he perceives to be going on in the political street in this country where people who are in leadership seem to be blind and yet they are leading the country. Could they be leading us into a ditch? The piece is a brazen allusion to the now popular folksy song, Abantu Bakoowu (People are tired), by local pop/ Kadongo Kamu artiste, Mathias Walukanga.
In this case, however, Mutebi turns the interpretation of contemporary events on its head by suggesting that perhaps "Abantu Bakoowu" proponents should actually be looking elsewhere for the source of their frustration.
"I do not necessarily think people are tired. If it were the case, people would not be working, schools would have closed and much more. I think there's something beneath all this," he says.
The artist uses images of men in army camouflage leading a party of tens of thousands. The men in military camouflage are also wearing spectacles, but in this the spectacles are a sign of eye impairment.
His knack for tackling sensitive topics like politics with witty metaphors is a reflection of a combination of his deep understanding of his subject matter and innovative creativity.
This exhibition will cause debate in the minds of the audience for its subject matter and among the artist community for its technique. As a platform for reflecting on the next 50 years of Uganda, Mutebi's "campaign" for a woman leader is both relevant and timely. The exhibition runs through October.