Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts (MTSIFA) Collections
http://hdl.handle.net/10570/178
2024-03-29T15:47:00ZArt and Gender: Imag[in]ing the new woman in contemporary Ugandan art, Book 1
http://hdl.handle.net/10570/877
Art and Gender: Imag[in]ing the new woman in contemporary Ugandan art, Book 1
Tumusiime, Amanda Evassy
This thesis is based on the belief that representations of women in contemporary Ugandan art serve cultural and political purposes. The premise is that the autonomous woman (seen as the new woman in this study), emerging in Uganda in the mid-1980s, agitated for the social, economic and political emancipation of women in Uganda. It has been demonstrated that the patriarchy attempted to subordinate, confine and regulate this new woman. The press, drama, music and film became powerful tools to force her into silence. This study posits that contemporary Ugandan art was part of this cultural discourse. Adopting a feminist art historical stance, it examines and assesses the gendered content of Uganda’s contemporary art masked as aesthetics. On the one hand, the study exposes the view that some men artists in Uganda use their works to construct men’s power and superiority as the necessary ingredients of gender difference. I demonstrate that some artists have engaged themes through which they have constructed women as being materialistic, gold-diggers, erotic and domesticated. I argue that this has been a strategy to tame Uganda’s new woman. On the other hand, the thesis attempts to show that some women artists have used visual discourse to challenge their marginalisation and to reclaim their ‘agency’ while revising some negative stereotypes about the new woman. This study makes an interdisciplinary contribution to Uganda’s art history, cultural studies and gender studies.
Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in the subject: Art History at the University of South Africa
2012-04-01T00:00:00ZArt as a social practice: transforming lives using sculpture in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention in Uganda
http://hdl.handle.net/10570/1739
Art as a social practice: transforming lives using sculpture in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention in Uganda
Nabulime, Lilian; McEwan, Cherly
This article explores the possibilities of art as social practice in the context of the fight against HIV/AIDS. It is inspired by notions of art having the capacity to move beyond the spaces of galleries into an expanded field, and thus beyond the visual and into the social. The article examines the potential for sculpture to play a transformative role in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, and in transforming the gender relations that shape the dynamics of the spread of the disease. These ideas are developed through discussion of research conducted in Uganda and in the UK, which sought to develop forms of sculptural practice for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention in Uganda. The article explores the ways in which a series of soap sculptures are an effective tool in the fight against the disease, particularly in communities with high rates of illiteracy and in which discussion of sex and sexuality remains largely taboo. The article contends that countering taboo and facilitating dialogue between women and men, thus encouraging attitudinal and behavioural change, are perhaps the most significant impacts that this form of sculpture can make. This is because while awareness of the disease in Uganda is often high, having the capacity to discuss and act upon this awareness is often problematic, largely because of fear, stigma and taboo, and the unequal gender relations that determine the nature of men and women’s sexual lives. The article concludes that the transformative effects of the soap sculptures are revealed in the ways in which they challenge taboos, tackle fear and stigma, and facilitate dialogue between men and women.
Online version can be accessed on : http://cgj.sagepub.com/content/18/3/275
This work was based on a personal experience of having people around her, affected and infected by HIV/AIDs. The a aim was to produce sculptures that visually educate literate and illiterates to avoid HIV/AIDS infections, denial, stigma, raise hope, access counseling and treatment.
2011-07-01T00:00:00ZArt as a social practice: transforming lives using sculpture in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention in Uganda
http://hdl.handle.net/10570/222
Art as a social practice: transforming lives using sculpture in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention in Uganda
Nabulime, Lilian; McEwan, Cheryl
This article explores the possibilities of art as social practice in the context of the fight against HIV/AIDS. It is inspired by notions of art having the capacity to move beyond the spaces of galleries into an expanded field, and thus beyond the visual and into the social. The article examines the potential for sculpture to play a transformative role in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, and in transforming the gender relations that shape the dynamics of the spread of the disease. These ideas are developed through discussion of research conducted in Uganda and in the UK, which sought to develop forms of sculptural practice for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention in Uganda. The article explores the ways in which a series of soap sculptures are an effective tool in the fight against the disease, particularly in communities with high rates of illiteracy and in which discussion of sex and sexuality remains largely taboo. The article contends that countering taboo and facilitating dialogue between women and men, thus encouraging attitudinal and behavioural change, are perhaps the most significant impacts that this form of sculpture can make. This is because while awareness of the disease in Uganda is often high, having the capacity to discuss and act upon this awareness is often problematic, largely because of fear, stigma and taboo, and the unequal gender relations that determine the nature of men and women’s sexual lives. The article concludes that the transformative effects of the soap sculptures are revealed in the ways in which they challenge taboos, tackle fear and stigma, and facilitate dialogue between men and women.
This work was based on a personal experience of having people around her affected and infected by HIV/AIDs. The a aim was to produce sculptures that visually educate literate and illiterates to avoid HIV/AIDS infections, denial, stigma, raise hope, access counseling and treatment
2010-01-01T00:00:00ZArt in Uganda in the 20th century
http://hdl.handle.net/10570/1759
Art in Uganda in the 20th century
Kyeyune, George
This study examines the major trends and transformations in Uganda’s modern art practice since its inception at Makerere in the 1930s by Margaret Trowell. In the early stages of its development, Trowell was driven by her belief in an African aesthetic. She introduced a curriculum that subordinated technique in favour of subject matter derived from local themes. However differences in opinion soon emerged between herself and her assistants. By the 1950s, Gregory Maloba argued that modernisation had been advantageous; hence it was unnecessary to cling to the mythologized past, while Sam Ntiro was a confirmed disciple of Trowell. The Slade supervised diploma, which came into being in 1953 confirmed Maloba’s point. When Cecil Todd took over the Art School in 1958, Makerere’s emphasis was already shifting towards a detailed consideration of technique and art history as an academic discipline, which Todd encouraged. However, this trend was criticised, as Uganda had just achieved independence in 1962; the intellectual climate resounded with debates about indigenisation. Against this ideological backdrop of cultural renewal and discovery, some artists returned to a version of Trowell’s philosophy of Africanising of art education. The promising political climate of the 1960s was soon replaced by repression and the civil war between 1971 and 1985. These conditions led to three important developments. Firstly, artists continued to create overtly political images, which expressed disgust for leaders. Secondly, new media like batik, better adapted to economies of scarcity, proliferated. Lastly, with shortage of imported materials and tools, artists investigated local materials under the influence of Francis Nnaggenda. Ironically, an art that utilised local themes and resources arose from the adversity of the 1970s, rather than the favourable climate of the 1960s. This can also be seen as the revival of the experimental art education pioneered by Elimo Njau also an early student of Trowell. The stability of the 1990s freed artists from investigating political issues and interest in the general themes of technique and design were revived. Fostering international links, and survival in a competitive art market, are pressing current concerns.
A thesis submitted to School of Oriental and African Studies, Department of Art and Archaeology, University of London in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
2003-01-01T00:00:00Z