Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts (MTSIFA) Collections

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Browsing Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts (MTSIFA) Collections by Author "Bagure, Rwabose Isabella"
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    Reclaiming women’s voices: fashion design inspired by princess Elizabeth Bagaaya’s biography as shaman in Sheena queen of the jungle.
    (Makerere University, 2023-12-04) Bagure, Rwabose Isabella
    This study focused on creating fashion design statements that SPEAKS TO the African voice of women pushing back against stereotypes. It is inspired by a visual archive embodied in the biography and narratives of Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya of Tooro (known as Bagaaya in this study) in relation to a character known as Shaman, whom she impressively plays in the film, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (Sheena, 1989). The research explored the visual archives and narratives from an autobiography and the portrayal of the film character, Shaman as a source of fashion design that liberates and amplifies women‘s voices into a collective African voice speaking of histories, triumphs and hopes,hereby reclaiming the voices for a productive reference. The primary source was the autobiography of Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya of Tooro – Elizabeth of Toro: The Odyssey of an African Princess (Nyabongo, 1989) . Through tracing the narratives found in the autobiographies and visual archives of Bagaaya of Tooro and Shaman of Sheena a reservoir for productive reference emerged: one that Uganda‘s fashion does not often look for as a source of inspiration. I assumed that this reservoir is representative of lived experiences for women across national, regional and African contexts. They can be considered a contribution towards a ̳collective African voice‘. Based on this assumption, the study provided knowledge on the interplay between fashion design and the lived experiences aimed at voicing the contributions made by African women within unique contexts This study through narrative inquiry explored how meaning can be derived from the biography and visual narratives of Bagaaya, used as a literary and visual canon source for inspiring fashion designs. This was done using Artistic research methods and narrative theory. The study provides a podium and a productive reference for creating designs and wearable items as fashion statements that push back against stereotypes and so begin to represent, reclaim, amplify the voices of women in spaces that are deeply laced with patriarchal power. x Shaman woman as a subject (and not as an object) in an idyllic space in which power and gender intersect to shape the destiny of a traditional kingdom. By departing from the position that this film is a metaphor – defined by cultural and historical contexts that have framed the lives of women in Uganda and the African continent at large – the research uses the fashion ̳voice‘ of Princess Bagaaya to speak with and for the muffled voice of Shaman and the stereotyped position of women over time. Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya of Tooro is a prominent figure in Ugandan history and has made significant contributions to her kingdom, country and the fashion world. Shaman, on the other hand, is a fictional character who is portrayed as a dispensable platform of which Sheena, the Caucasian heroine of the movie, is launched to save the day. ̳Shaman‘ is not a name, merely a title that has come to be associated with a spiritual witch-like persona. Therefore, in essence, the Shaman character was not even given the dignity of a name. This in spite of the fact that she adopts, names and raises the orphaned Sheena, teaching her everything she knows that enables her to shine as a heroic saviour-figure. Despite knowing all, Shaman has a muzzled voice. In spite of, or perhaps because of, this paradox, Bagaaya asserts that her performance in the movie did not require acting on her part because of the parallels between her life and that of Shaman. This study highlights and uses those parallels and intersections to create fashion that amplifies the voice of Shaman, and through her, the African woman in all the glory of her lived experiences.The study is an explicit example of the intersection between autobiography and creativity as spaces that amplify and reclaim the voices of women that deflected instances of stereotypes and transform them into wearable items in fashion design.