Art from Uganda will be showcased at the country’s very first National Pavilion at the prestigious Venice Biennale, in an exhibition curated by renowned artist and Coventry University postgraduate researcher Shaheen Merali.
Merali, who is also a prominent curator and art critic, was born in Tanzania and is based in London.
He is currently examining contemporary political black arts practices and curating that emerged in the Asian-African diaspora culture in the early 1980s as part of his PhD with Coventry University
The Uganda National Pavilion will exhibit work by Kampala-based artists Acaye Kerunen and Collin Sekajugo, presenting a post-independence perspective of Uganda.
Kerunen has collaborated with Ugandan craftswomen in her work, making use of deconstructed utilitarian materials and artisan crafts to reclaim stories and create further meanings. Sekajugo’s paintings and assemblages manipulate stock images to reveal inherent biases of western entitlement and privilege, modelled on the European centric archive.
Merali said: “It is an honour to be curating the first Uganda Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. This exhibition paves the way in the future for the pavilion to be undertaken independently by people living in Uganda and solely by Ugandan institutions”.
Two new artworks by Kerunen to be included in Venice are being exhibited in the public domain in Kampala beforehand to give people an idea about what is going to be displayed in Venice.
The Uganda National Pavilion can be viewed at the Palazzo Palumbo Fossati, 59th La Biennale di Venezia, Italy from 23rd April to 27th November 2022.
