TOP 15 – LONGLISTED 2022 Artist: Joseph Wamala Kyeyune
Title: I shall not want
Medium: Acrylics on Canvas
Size: 150cm x 100cm | Year: 2021
Born in November 1993, Joseph Wamala Kyeyune is a full-time artist based in Kampala, Uganda. He holds a Bachelor of Art and Industrial Design degree from Kyambogo University, Uganda and a Diploma in Art from Michelangelo College of Art, Uganda. He is a co-founder of Vodo Art Society in Kampala, Uganda.
“My work is a combination of all things life throws at us. But majorly stories of hope regardless the background, tribe, religion or pedigree. As an artist, I concern myself with the grey area. That hued portion of humanity that portrays good and evil in one work of art. To time-stamp life and times of existence through unlimited forms of self-expression.” – Joseph Wamala Kyeyune
His entry artwork is part of series under the theme ‘Saints and Sinners. Illustration of Existence,’ which series is characterized by suggested corrugated iron sheets in the background. He notes that: “these mainly symbolize barriers that surround our life’s journey to self-actualization. I also use these iron sheets because people tend to hide what there are constructing by fencing themselves behind these sheets.”
On the entry artwork, he notes that ‘I shall not want’ – “reflects on the political situation in Uganda. The red (barrier) color for the leading opposition party. The yellow (carrier) for the governing party and a child caught in the middle of it all praying for better days and financial freedom.”
Email: Wamz.jose@gmail.com
