A conversation with Bwambale Wesely.
Tell us about your background and how you came to painting. What drew you to figuration, in particular?
I was born in 1994, in Kasese district which is on the Western region of Uganda. Since I am from a district where there was a lot of tourism, I visited many craft shops as a young boy. This drew my love for art and design. I loved drawing and making small clay sculptures, these took up most of my time at school.
I grew up in a family of three girls who, most of the time, asked me to draw them as my drawing practice grew. This increased my love for figurative drawing as I have always been interested in creating a compelling composition.
I earned a diploma in Industrial Art and Design from Michelangelo College of Industrial Art, and afterwards I joined Kyambogo University for a degree in Art.
The subjects in your paintings are primarily women. Who do you choose to paint and why? What factors do you consider when deciding how to portray them?
I use human forms and particularly women to explore identity, day-to-day life, and personal experiences depicting my family and friends.
I choose to collect stories from my family and friends directly, and later I transform the story subject(s) into paintings. The fact that I grew up in a family of three strong women, watching their daily lives inspired me a lot. So, I use their experiences across my figurative drawing and small paintings to tell my own narratives.
Who are the two women in the painting titled "The Old Village"? Can you tell us more about the sign in the background that says: "Mountains of the Moon Girls" ?
The two women in "The Old Village” are my sister and her friend. "Mountains of the Moon Girls" is a girls school in my village where my sister studied and met her friend, who became a best friend. Mountains of the Moon Girls was the only girls school in the village.
There's a curious quality to the surface of your paintings, which has these expressive brushstrokes, what is your painting process like? How do you begin a work?
I actually begin by giving the work a title. From there, I take several pictures of the model and make a few sketches based on the photos I took. Later, I lay paint on the canvas thickly, to create impasto and brush strokes that stand away from the surface.
You mentioned that you studied industrial design before earning your art degree from Kyambogo University. Does your industrial design background ever play a part in your painting practice?
My diploma in Industrial Art and Design has played the biggest role in my art career because the diploma level was more targeted toward practical skill. My degree at Kyambogo University involved more theory than practical application.
Tell us more about the local art scene in Uganda, are there any other emerging artists whose work you like?
There are many challenges that exist in the art scene in Uganda. Putting that aside, the art scene is growing quickly, with many talented emerging artists, like Godwin Champs, Mugabe Ronald, Kansiime Brian, Tendo Maria and Matt Kayem.