Artist's Talk: The Acayeism of Art Making

For this Artist’s Talk, Tashkeel welcomes performance and installation artist Acaye Kerunen to discuss her visual art practice, which is rooted in craft, collaboration, female empowerment and environmental consciousness.

Acaye employs natural fibres in hand stitching, appending, knotting and weaving – all tasks she watched her mother do in her work. Having grown up in Uganda at a time when Kampala’s landscape was changing fast from a lush green land to a concrete expanse, her installation and multimedia works question how the earth can continue to feed and sustain populations, holistically and practically. Her practice is founded upon a strong conviction in Ugandan women’s empowerment and an intention to address authentic creation as lived experience. She orchestrates outcomes of collaborative work with local craftswomen into installations that question the relationship between fine art and craft as predicated by western art traditions. In doing so, Acaye seeks to illuminate her sense of place and context as the centre of creative gravity, rather than that which is predicated on western doctrine.

This is an excellent opportunity to learn about the diverse practice of one of Uganda’s leading cultural practitioners and its relation to current discourse around female empowerment, craft, identity and the environment.