TOP 15 – LONGLISTED 2020 Artist: Matt Kayem
Title: Royal Guard
Size: 84.1cm x 118.9cm
Medium: Photography
Year: 2019
Born in 1991, Matt Kayem (Michael Matthew Kayiwa) is a Ugandan contemporary visual artist. He holds a Diploma in Art and Design from Michelangelo College of Creative Arts, Kisubi, Uganda.
“In my work, I usually revisit pre-colonial Africa or Buganda where I come from and pick out things in daily use and mostly the bark-cloth, a traditional fabric that has been made by my ethnic group for ages. I use this cloth with denim and modern items like urban clothing to comment and highlight my position as a young ‘modernised’ African trying to connect themselves with the depleted past that went with colonialism.” – Matt Kayem
He further notes that “My work hints on decolonization of myself and my kind and also a possible conscious integration and adoption of cultures alien to the African.…The photography work is a call to Africans/Baganda to safe guard their disappearing traditional culture and most importantly their lands, all of which are under attack from outside forces. The land and the culture are the royalty we are to safe guard.”
Email: Mattkayem@gmail.com
