Kampala’s galleries are having a moment. Works that once sold quietly to local patrons are now appearing at international fairs with waiting lists.
Curators describe a scene defined by resourcefulness — artists mixing barkcloth, found metal and digital media into a vocabulary that is unmistakably Ugandan.
The international attention follows years of groundwork by artist-run spaces that trained, exhibited and defended a generation of talent with little institutional support.
Collectors from London to Lagos are buying, but the artists are negotiating harder than their predecessors — retaining rights, demanding proper provenance, building careers at home.
“Galleries, collectors and biennales are discovering what Kampala's artists have known for years — this is one of…”
The question animating the scene now is not whether Kampala belongs on the global stage, but on whose terms it performs there.
