In an immersive artistic presentation imbued with nostalgia, Pamela Enyonu unveils “Ateker, ijasi biyayi? – Greetings from the road (A dedication)“, an exhibition marking her return to her homeland. Held at the prestigious Amasaka Gallery, the exhibition runs until April 21, 2024. Pamela Enyonu’s first solo exhibition in Uganda, it offers a unique opportunity for the Ugandan public to discover the innovative art of this renowned artist.
Renowned for her in-depth exploration of femininity through her art, the contemporary artist analyzes how women navigate social landscapes and interact with their environment on a daily basis, highlighting the mutual influences between them and their living environment. “Ateker, ijasi biyayi? – Greetings from the road (A dedication)” presents an artistic vision of Ugandan history through the eyes and understanding of Pamela Enyonu. The exhibition combines her past creations with new works exploring national narratives and the quest for identity. Through her canvases, the Ugandan artist revisits her diverse roots in a country whose borders were drawn by others, where cohesion is a perpetual issue of negotiation.
Pamela Enyonu’s creations are inspired by various elements, such as her social interactions, the founding myths permeating her daily life, her Ugandan identity and her eclectic reading, including authors such as Okot p’Bitek, Maya Angelou, Chinua Achebe and Frantz Fanon, to name but a few. By immersing herself in Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s novel “Kintu”, Pamela Enyonu draws inspiration to create exclusive works in line with her artistic approach. Rather than deconstructing these myths in order to reconstruct them, the contemporary artist sublimates them into narratives that she inscribes in the present, exploring ruptures and continuities.
The exhibition “Ateker, ijasi biyayi? – Greetings from the road (A dedication)” transports the viewer into a universe where ancient stories come to life through Pamela Enyonu‘s contemporary eyes. The goddess Nambi, dressed in a blue tank top and holding a handful of golden seeds, emerges from the misty threshold between divine and earthly, captivating the gaze with her deep-set eyes. Beside her, the Tree of Knowledge (of good and evil) unfurls its golden fruit, evoking another creation myth whose impact on the lives of Ugandans today has redefined their trajectory along an uncertain timeline, between a distant past and an unknown future.
Through her exceptional works, Pamela Enyonu questions the construction of a community and raises the question of post-colonial collective identity. She invites the public to explore the subtleties that shape the sense of belonging, offering loopholes between the intimate and the collective. The artist’s tapestries, featuring botanical drawings by Matooke in what she calls “Social Nature Studies“, read like a declaration of love to the foods that weave the social fabric. A pair of slippers in front of a lit screen, with no soul in sight, evokes the distant murmur of a family who may have shared the latest news before dispersing to attend to other business. As Pamela Enyonu scans her neighborhood on the outskirts of Kampala, her gaze glides over the rooftops emerging behind high fences topped with barbed wire, supposed to ensure security but in reality severing the community that forges the home.
In the work of this contemporary artist, the concept of “home” is explored as both a place of belonging and alienation. Faced with a world that has become alien and hostile to life, Pamela Enyonu strives to tell stories and contemplate serenity as a remedy. Through her overflowing feminine writing, she spins her narrative without constraint, tired of dictating speeches, expressing truths in a polyphony of languages. Sensual, exuberant in color, rich in texture and transparency, each of her pieces is an invitation to explore.
This exhibition is just the first chapter in a multi-part saga that will unfold in the future, exploring in depth the themes addressed here. Let’s start with a dedication: a tribute to Ugandans and to Ugandanness in all its diversity and paradoxes, beholden to no one. It resonates with the words of Wole Soyinka: “A tiger doesn’t proclaim its tigritude. It leaps.” Through this visual and narrative exploration, the exhibition embodies a reappropriation of this “tigritude“. From here, new explorations are conceivable.
