ARTS

Kampala, Uganda | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Musinguzi Gilbert – A youthful budding artist who graduated from Kyambogo University in 2014, invited unprecedented attention to his work at the Kampala Art Biennale 2018 with his colossal ephemeral  artwork `Invasion’ that interrogates  the subject of migration to new territory and its obvious impact to …

Lagos, Nigeria | JAMES MURUA | Prof Tanure Ojaide and Harriet Anena are the joint winners of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature 2018. The announcement was made at a ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday, December 9, 2018. The Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature, worth Sh37million ($10,000), is awarded …

Tervuren, Belgium | AFP | Belgium’s Africa Museum reopened on Saturday after a five-year restoration to repackage its looted treasures with a critical view of the country’s brutal colonial past. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo hailed a “historic moment” and said it would open “a new chapter” in Belgian-African …

Exhibit rediscovers modernistic architecture in five African cities Kampala, Uganda | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | The conversation on the preservation of old building in Kampala has been recently renewed in an itinerary photography exhibition titled `Africa Modernism’ showing at the MakerereArt gallery in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The exhibition documents over …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  An Egyptian actress is set to face trial in January for wearing a see-through dress at the Cairo film festival this week that showed her legs, a judicial source said Saturday. Rania Youssef appeared at the closing session Thursday of the Cairo International Film Festival …

Soweto, South Africa | AFP |  US television celebrity Oprah Winfrey on Thursday paid emotional tribute to Nelson Mandela as she prepared to host a star-studded concert in Johannesburg to cap celebrations marking 100 years since his birth. Winfrey will co-host the Global Citizen festival on Sunday, where artists including …

Port Louis, Mauritius | AFP | Jamaican reggae, the music of the oppressed which Bob Marley catapulted onto the global stage, won a coveted spot on the United Nations’ list of global cultural treasures Thursday. UNESCO, the world body’s cultural and scientific agency, added reggae to its collection of “intangible …

Matt Kayemwants Africans to flaunt global domination in art, fashion, music Kampala, Uganda | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Ugandan multi-talented artist Matt Kayem is never shy to court controversy with his subjects, technique, and medium; be it painting, ceramics, photography, graffiti or sculpture. So his followers expected nothing less from his …

Paris, France | AFP | African museum directors on Wednesday welcomed an expert report calling on France to allow the return of thousands of African treasures and artworks, a radical policy shift that could put pressure on other former colonial powers. Calls have been growing in Africa for restitution, but …

Kampala, Uganda | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Scraps of metal, plastics, rubber and more are everywhere in Kampala; especially in low income areas where dumping many people cram into small spaces, leaving no room for proper garbage disposal. These are the treasure troves of scrap dealers who rummage through the heaps waste …