The entire collection of all the artwork in this
website is an effort of traversing Uganda in search
of the species I needed to study and the elders I
had to visit to get information and confirmation of
what I had written and painted. The exodus of people
from the countryside to the city in many ways has
affected the prevalence of wildlife making it so difficult
for people to interface with these creatures. This
is the reason I had to make long journeys to Queen
Elizabeth, Mburo, Murchison Falls and Kidepo National
Parks in search of particular species.
Some of the species live with us in our midst like
in the bush behind our little gardens or the swamp
down the road, but they are so hard to see. I have
for example never seen a civet in its natural habitat
but where I was born and where I live, marks of civets
are apparent but you can never see one mainly because
they are nocturnal but the other reason is they would
be hunted on spot if they were seen. So they live
in hiding all their life only to be seen when they
are knocked down by a car.
Seeing an illustration of a genet or even a duiker
on canvas, one cannot imagine what it takes the artist.
It is an effort that requires endless walks in the
natural world with all the possible dangers that come
with it. I will never forget when my ranger swiftly
climbed a thorny tree and could not find his way down
after the calm. This scene was prompted by sudden
falling of a big dry branch of acacia. I must admit
that my stamina to keep firm on the ground was more
of instinct than bravery.
The animals that are easy to see are usually the
least desired for such a study. Usually, it is the
nocturnal and shy creatures that one is tasked with.
Some are too active that even if you wanted to use
a camera, the animal would long be gone. This coupled
with hazards of weather, make such research more challenging.
Animals also differ from region to region. A blue
duiker in Eastern Uganda may be grey while the one
of Central Uganda may be chestnut brown. This usually
creates hot debate and more than in most cases, it
is labeled as artistic licence. I have tried to paint
species as close as I possibly could to help viewers
identify them in the natural world when the opportunity
comes. This project focuses on four major items; identification
of species, connecting the animal kingdom to mankind,
preservation of culture and conservation of wildlife.
During the critique of the artwork, there was some
frowning of critics resulting from detailed studies
and close up images of animals and birds usually seen
from a distance or at full speed escaping from their
predators and it is hard therefore to relate them
to the still ones executed on canvas in crisp detail.
There cannot be one scholar to exhaust this subject
because the information is scattered and differs from
region to region. The dog clan for example has two
stories; oral and written. The oral one talks of a
dog which communicated to family members when its
master died during a hunt. It kept barking and running
towards a particular direction until an elder suspected
something was amiss since the family head was not
returning. On following it, the master was found dead
and the elder so impressed with the dog’s ability
to communicate, announced that the dog was going to
be their family symbol from that day onwards. In Nsimbi’s
book, “Ammannya amaganda n’ennono zaago,”
the story centres on Kintu’s children, Cwa and
his brothers Gguluddene and Wakayima who refused to
follow Cwa after he dismissed the dog for consuming
filth. Gguluddene argued that he cannot abandon his
father’s totem for anything and ended breaking
up with his brother. The two stories run parallel
to each other except one is written and the other
one is oral.
Undertaking such a project is something one can only
attempt but not fully satisfy. The culture of totems
and the history that comes with it is so intricate
and deep that the best one can do is document what
he or she can gather and other scholars can always
add material and refine areas that need revisiting.
A lot of the history and culture is not written yet
there are people who keep it in their oral archives.
The danger with these archives is that information
changes from generation to generation and sometimes
when the bearers pass on, they carry it with them
and it is then perpetually lost. In this day of movies
and soaps, parents have no chance at all to tell tales
because family hours are stolen by these blockbusters.
Many times I was faced with, “sorry, the old
man or woman who would have answered all your questions
passed away last week.” That was a big problem
because it had no solution. The other problem was
the self made experts with claims of knowledge until
the interview was presented. Many times I felt cheated
after driving half a day and the person with information
has less than anticipated and on some occasions with
none at all.
The weakness to document information is the reason
we lose knowledge in Africa and we have a task to
change the way we think and do things. Our interpretation
of the word culture is shallow to the extent that
the general populace associates it with only drum-playing,
circumcision, weddings, funerals and sometimes witch-craft
but the truth is that a country which still perceives
culture in that perspective can struggle and grow
but it cannot develop. How does culture kick in to
make a difference? It basically means that the food
the nation grows can be integrated in the economy
to support farmers at a national and international
level. Medicine and the science it comes with should
not be prescribed under the cover of darkness but
it should be researched upon, tested, refined, packaged
and distributed as remedy to the community as part
of our cultural heritage. A cultured nation should
not just play drums to receive foreign delegates alone
but should be able to also feed her people, package
value added food for trade and treat the sick locally.
The Chinese practiced and perfected their traditional
healing methods with amazing testimonies using their
local medicine until Western medical monopolists accepted
them to practice their culture in the first world.
Tales should be published and animated if we want
to attract good audience for them. The fire-places
tales seem to be dwindling at such fast rate if they
are there at all. That is what would constitute a
powerful cultured nation but as long as we glorify
Cinderella and shun Ssewazzike, the result of understanding
and appreciating our culture will reflect the same
image through generations and will never yield value
in the financial markets which will leave a dent on
our minds that our culture attracts nothing but poverty.
Cultured people have a duty to serve their nation
because in serving their country, there are direct
and indirect benefits. Leaders who are cultured are
more going to encourage local industry to harness
the values in their culture thereby supporting local
industry to support and elevate their identity but
if decision makers have no respect for local materials
and ideas, they will end up supporting foreign industries
unknowingly and sometimes knowingly.
A time to respect our origins and the values that
protected our ancestors will come like it did in India
when Mahatma Gandhi abandoned suits for Indian wear
made out of Indian yern. That was a little gesture
with a great impact on the Indian economy.
I keep wondering what would happen if a man rose
up today to heal our ailing nation. Would he start
with our medicine, food, music, art, science or iron
smelting? Some of these items have gone down the drain.
The big question is what can be done? We need to package
our products to suit today’s market place if
we must make a difference. We should not wait for
the vacuum to prevail; we should start this process
by recording our past for us and our posterity so
that we can make a difference to give our brothers
and sisters, countrymen, children, grand–children,
great grand-children hope.
