There is a hum in the audience as Seyi Adelekun glides across their towering installation – a tree woven from colourful fiber – expressing themselves through a series of mesmerizing movements. A hush in the space, as they walk through the audience bearing a flaming torch in each hand, and the ensuing applause is deafening.

Installation by Seyi Adelekun, Healing Forest – An Ecology of Spiritual Herbalism, KLA ART 2024. Photo credit: Ethel Aanyu.

Adelekun’s installation and performance were a part of the 2024 edition of KLA ART, a public arts festival in Uganda’s capital Kampala. The festival is one of the many art events taking place as the city revives itself post-pandemic. Exhibitions around the city, such as at Xenson Art Space, Afriart Gallery, and the Afropocene Capsule gallery, are now an expected component of Kampala’s cultural calendar. Currently, for example, Afriart is displaying the works of Henry Mzili Mujunga to celebrate fifteen years of his artistic practice. Visual arts are thriving and the city has gained a pulsating energy.

Feeling this energy, Diasporic communities are increasingly flocking to Kampala for art residencies and other creative engagements. Hailing from Germany, the UK, Nigeria, Jamaica, Ghana, South Africa, Sudan, and beyond, they are contributing to, exchanging with, and benefitting from the dynamism of Kampala’s cultural scene.

Adelekun is one of those artists who temporarily made Kampala their home during a residency with arts organization 32 Degrees East, as a participant in the KLA ART festival. A Londoner of Nigerian heritage, Adelekun is a multidisciplinary artist who creates sites with a focus on ecology and embracing ancestral connections, as illustrated in their installation and performance with KLA ART. Arriving in Kampala, Adelekun was embraced by a community of like-minded artists and was struck by the generosity and support of Ugandan cultural practitioners in general.

Installation by Birungi Kawooya and Rebecca Khamala, Cultivating Rhythms of Care, KLA ART 2024 (Photo credit: Ethel Aanyu)

British-Ugandan artist, wellbeing researcher, and creative facilitator Birungi Kawooya returned to Uganda as an adult for a residency with 32 Degrees East for KLA ART after spending the bulk of her life in the UK. Kawooya’s practice is rooted in healing capitalism-induced racial trauma. Coming to Kampala and working in art spaces down the road from her aunty’s house made her immediately feel at home. “I can’t say how important these spaces have been to me,” Birungi says of her time in residence, “in terms of my mental health, development, my own liberation practice, and my development as an artist.”

Kampala’s current energy has its contradictions. While the visual arts scene is experiencing a post-pandemic renaissance, the cultural sector as a whole continues to fight for survival. It receives close to no support from the government, and as a result, little supportive infrastructure exists to allow artists in Uganda to elevate their practice. Many Diaspora artists in Kampala hold passports from countries in the Global North, a privilege that allows them to leave and enter with ease, remaining unaffected by the structural barriers faced by Ugandan artists living in the country.

Photography by Henry Robinson, ‘Lela Pit’ exhibition, Afropocene The Capsule Gallery, Kampala. Photo credit: Josh Dago.

Henry Robinson, a Jamaican photographer and filmmaker based in Kampala, is well aware of the immense limitations on artistic work in Uganda, and says that artists in Jamaica face similar problems. “It’s inspirational to see that lack of resources in Uganda isn’t stopping people from creating, and I think those are the true artists,” he adds. Inspired by this resourcefulness, Robinson built his own mobile photography studio that would allow him to travel around Uganda to shoot portraits. His most recent project took him to the northern city of Gulu, where he created a photo series of women riding bicycles shown at the Capsule as part of the exhibition Lela Pit.

The dearth in infrastructure and resources in Uganda equates to a level of informality that allows artists to experiment with and develop their craft in ways that would be difficult elsewhere. Adelekun revelled in this aspect of working in Kampala, and learned how to crochet from skilled women weavers for their installation. They also collaborated with herbalist Adoch Juliet to create an audio piece. Both modes of making were new to Adelekun. Kawooya had a similar experience: “In Uganda, we’re able to dream and make things happen very quickly in a way that’s not possible and doesn’t feel accessible in London.”

“It’s been amazing,” Robinson reflects. “I will miss his country when I leave.” When asked when that would be, he responds: “I was supposed to be here for three months. It’s now been two years. So we’ll see.”

For the existing artistic community in Uganda, the influx of new artists is a welcome breath of fresh air in a relatively small scene. As Kampala has become a home for Black and African artists around the world with whom the city’s energy and creativity resonates, everyone seems to benefit.

Anna Adima, writer, and researcher based in Kampala, holds a PhD in East African history and literature.