Benon Lutaaya dies at 34

In 2016 he founded The Project; an NGO for uplifting female artistes in South Africa

| DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Benon Lutaaya passed on in Johannesburg Hospital on April 14. His career spanned only nine years but he had already made his mark. He donated over one million South African Rand (Approx. Shs270 million) to children’s charity and arts causes and in 2015 co-sponsored the prestigious Reinhold Cassirer Award that supports talented young visual artists.

His greatest achievement, however, could be the NGO he set up in Johannesburg in 2016 to offer female artists a space where they could do their art fulltime. He called it The Project Space, located in two places; August House and Victoria Yards in the centre of Johannesburg. Artists like Uganda’s Stacey Gillian Abe benefited from it.

He had sale-out shows, wide global artistic recognition, and a long list of waiting clients. His work was bought by collectors from South Africa, Europe, and Canada. He will be remembered as a rising star with a passion for pushing the limits.

“I enjoy coming up with something new and unique. I love to surprise myself. When people see my work though, I would like them to enjoy each piece for its color harmony, pleasing visual appeal and the ability to connect and communicate” he once said.

He painted with emotion and dug deep below the surface. His art explored the core; the hidden and obscure, the important. He gained popularity for his paper collage portraits; often done using found paper and other recyclable material he picked off the street. Through layering, recycling, shredding and painting, the artist responded to the notion of manipulation and reapplication of objects. One reviewer described how “life, beauty, and character all come vivid in Lutaaya’s often powerful, colorful and provocative paintings”.

His images were abstract and he loved to paint children and helped vulnerable children in real life. Children, for him, were symbols of vulnerability, abuse, rape, displacement as refugees, and exploitation as child soldiers or street-children.

He based on his personal story to portray the flitting nature of life for the poor, marginalised, and discriminated. In his collage paintings, the child is always alone. He dwelt a lot on their survival.

So when he was selected to be an International Artist in residence at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Newtown, Johannesburg in 2011, he focused on achieving the most out of it for the vulnerable. He had graduated as a teacher with a Bachelor of Fine Art from Kyambogo University in 2009 and was just two years old into his professional career but quickly gained recognition in South Africa.

He was a selected artist for the Thupelo International Artists Workshop 2012, won the Ithuba Arts Fund grant in September 2011 in Johannesburg, and was selected amongst the only 12 artists on the African continent whose artworks and profiles featured in the DSTV/Multichoice Calendar for 2012. He was featured in many art magazines and media including, Collagista magazine in France, Casscan Foundation community newspaper in the UK, African Elegancy magazine in Kampala, BBC TV world service, SABC3, and Summit TV.

He was awarded numerous accolades; including the Citizen Influencer Brand award at SA Brand Summit 2018, African Youth Ambassadorial Award, Frankfurt, Germany and Bright Young Things by Art Africa Magazine. He has been associated with Charity; funding many children initiatives across South Africa.

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