With a season of arts and music festivals drawing near, this issue of Start Journal invites the Kampala arts community not only to look ahead to the opportunities of future festivals but to look back on where art in Kampala has come from, and how the last six years, the last two decades, even the last fifty have led to this point. By our recent new member of the editorial team Gloria Kiconco.
Read More >>Ronex reflects on his own experience and asks himself: “As Ugandans, if we are still struggling with archiving and access of certain information, what role can each player in the Kampala art world play to avert the situation?”
Read More >>“When the late Joseph Walugembe was still the Director of the Uganda National Theatre, he once explained to my friends and I of the Lantern Meet of Poets how our poetry was different from that of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. I recall him emphasizing how the memorized and dramatized performance of our poetry was the main ingredient. Up to that point I had never considered memorized oral expression of poetry even as aspects of poetry”. Kagayi Ngobi talks about his journey into poetry.
Read More >>In this poem, Daphine Afinda reflects how daring it is to choose the writing profession in Uganda considering the challenges that surround it. Aware of all the risks and the fears, she still dived right into the dream and in December, 2017 and hosted her first ever Poetry Recital.
Read More >>The essay “Art in Kampala at Work 012” is a reflective report by Katrin Klaphake, and it was written in 2013, when the memories were still fresh and present. In 2012, two innovative and unusual public art events took place in Kampala: the international exhibition “Art at Work” and the local contemporary art festival KLA ART. Since then, a lot has happened. 2014 saw two bi-annual art events, the second edition of KLA ART and the launch of the Kampala Art Biennale. Fast forward to 2018: the city is buzzing with cultural and art related activities to the extent that the month of August goes under the title of art month. With the view to these upcoming activities this text reminds us of some of the discussions in the early days of Kampala’s biennalisation and contributes to the writing of the exhibition histories of the city.
Read More >>