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L-R: Rose Jepkorir Kiptum, Georgina Maxim, Sarah Waiswa, Ba Tonga Julia Kaunda-Kaseka, Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa, Dr. Portia Malatjie. |
On 8th Marth, artists, scholars, cultural workers, and more, convened at Alliance Francais Basement in Kampala in commemoration of the Annual Njabala Exhibition as part of the Obulo Bwaffe Festival organised by Njabala Foundation; a non-profit organisation that creates spaces for women artists to blossom.
Challenging patriarchal and colonial narratives because photography has been very much a male and white concept. Even as the camera came to the continent. For example, in Nairobi spaces are an issue; they’re inaccessible hence on decolonizing spaces is key; and how African women saw themselves like going back to post cards back in the day, African women had little agency.
Centring women’s voices: Women owning their narratives and having control on how their stories are told.
The curator as a multiplier of access: which reiterated how funding is a big obstacle for photographers, hence community building is a great place to start.
Reframing neglect and decolonizing space: Like having available artwork created but has never been showcased on the continent; creating work for others, thus reclaiming spaces not built for the locals in mind.
She summed it up with a reminder of the power of entitlement and resistance which epitomises the Obulo Bwaffe folklore 'Nakato leeka tweliire obulo bwaffe obwobulamu', a metaphor for women’s power.
Naijographia By Rose Jepkorir Kiptum
Rose is a curator based in Nairobi whose work aims to create opportunities/spaces to encounter each other.
All in all, resource mobilisation and mobilisation of individuals were key learnings for them, not having enough resources presents you to alternative ways to think and pondering on why do we make something that attempts to be the thing but is not the thing?
Acoustic Veils: Fragility, Containment & Black Sonic Curation By Dr. Portia Malatjie
Dr. Portia is a curator and senior lecturer in Art History and Discourse of Art at the University of Cape Town. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and books, as well as exhibition catalogues.
Her session delved into the way in which voices occupy spaces becomes interesting when using sound in art exhibitions. With some of the exhibitions they’ve done using sound, most of the artists are not alive so they’re reimagining them in the museum space even without the sonic feel.
She also expounded on how sound operates in the museum space for Black women curators; and emphasised that sound is incredibly gendered and very racialised. For example, in an exhibition space it’s meant to be silent. In the same way Black women are sonically marked in society as loud. They don’t have to speak, there’s already a perceived loudness attached to them.
One of the ways to use sounds as a curatorial methods is through the practice of 'Sereto', a Northern Sotho Sepedi term that refers to an archive of a familial history; an oral tracing of a family history through family praise poems. This is something Dr. Portia does often at the start of her talks.
Through the idea of Sereto when working in colonial institutions we can do exhibitions through Sereto by bringing those pictorial ancestral practices in these spaces.
The Thought Process Behind Obulo Bwaffe Festival By Martha Kazungu
Martha is a curator, art historian, writer, as well as the founder of Njabala Foundation.
The ineffable dilemma with translating a folklore is the impossibility to derive precise words in that converted language. As such our translation of Obulo Bwaffe to our millet sounds like a vague translation nonetheless, our attempt to translate the folklore is informed by the desire to give as many people as possible access to its gist.
We are avidly struck by the blatant utterance of the singing birds that the millet is theirs. While we do not know what happened before the famine falls or how Nakato and Babirye respond to the singing birds, one does not need the whole story to arrive at our reading; that a wealthy and powerful woman is placed at the centre with fields bountiful in the middle of a famine. A woman conversant with her belongings and brave enough to boldly confront the singing birds through her children.
As we witness the world we live in today, one where many people play a part of the singing birds, the part of shameless entitlement to women’s produce, labour, bodies, care, etc; the story emerges as an ironic provocation The singing birds actually imitate the cultures we have inhabited today; those that unflinchingly declare ownership of women’s harvests regardless of their absence at the time of sowing. With ever so many singing birds in women’s lives, their resulting noise is not only deafening, but also a constant distraction. Women find themselves preoccupied with this precarious noise so often that they forget to relieve their own power.
Reclaiming women’s power: She alludes to their previous work of the Annual Njabala Exhibitions as a telling case in point of where the themes of their previous work has missed one important aspect of reclaiming women’s power, hence the 2025 edition of Obulo Bwaffe Festival theme reclaims women’s power. It’s in this spirit that 2025 seeks to manifest a more flamboyant experience cognisant of the inherent power that womanhood entails. And through pacing a bountiful field of millet in the ownership of the woman during a famine, the Obulo Bwaffe story inevitably alludes to the inherent woman’s power, as such, a title is a remembrance and a motivation of the power that women embody, at the same time, a title is a denunciation of the singing birds’ entitlement to that which belongs to Nnalongo and her children; and to many other women by extension.
This from the beginning was a platform for knowledge creation. Taking a part of Obulo Bwaffe and extracted three main themes namely: Power, Knowledge & Agency. Visual art, performative art; the festival as a whole is a celebration of womanhood and an acknowledgment of the honourable traits that we embody.
Some Highlights From The Q&A Session
On what curatorial practice is: Curatorial work is self expression, it’s solidarity, making sure. people are well represented and keeping solidarity, a process of exploration from a research context, whatever you’re doing right now, what’s going on in your mind right now.
On exclusion in institutions: how do you as a creator not fall into the gatekeeping?: Collaboration and inter-generational collaboration. For example, put out a call for more artists than picking the ones you know; we are human we have biases so being self-aware, some agency ought to be given to the artist as well because power goes both ways, and lastly, experience. We tend to forget that their have been people on the continent that have been doing the work who are not on billboards, yet we don’t seek their support. We have to acknowledge their work. No collective memory from the elders. No interaction. There has to be intention to tap into the experience of those who have been doing this for long.
Concluding Thoughts
The major highlight for me was decolonising spaces and agency, and not only in the arts and culture space, but literally everywhere. From academia, to corporate, etc. Can you imagine the reality of doing away with something intentionally built to limit you? That’s one hell of a task, and a big shoutout to all the artists working towards this; your work matters.
Njabala is basically the patron saint of “bad girls” and the foundation spearheading this festival being called the same name is an act of resistance. We need to be mindful of the symbolism in our folklore and tradition as a whole to avoid being engrained by folklore or tradition at large. Take it with a pinch of salt if you will, and most importantly, always apply critical thought.
Njabala Foundation is undeniably a vital contributor to the arts and culture scene in Uganda; and East Africa / Africa at large, while amplifying African women’s stories with their ever-so intentional feminist lens, which is an overarching approach across their work since inception.
It’s interesting and equally perplexing how we live by these ingrained narratives to our detriment, even the most exposed and well-read, including feminists! This is why questioning and observing, and archiving are important, they allow us to look back compare and contrast and sieve through what to carry on in our evolution as a people. This informs how we navigate life and defining and choosing our preferred paths as opposed to adhering to the status quo, worse off, one that perpetuates our oppression and avoiding being perpetuators of our suffering onto others.
Inspired by a popular Baganda folklore, the Festival, which run from 7th - 13th March was a week-long reflection captured in art exhibitions, talks, mentorships for women artists, workshops, etc, made up of dynamic presentations and discussions led by prominent international figures in the art world.
The exhibition took place at two venues: Afropocene and Xenson Art Space and showcased the captivating work of exceptional women artists such as: Evelyn Bageire, Diana Bwengye, Pamela Enyonu, Kashushu, Anna Maria Nabirye, and Sheila Nakitende; exploring themes of power, knowledge, and agency, while other activities were held in different venues around Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
The roundtable talk themed “Curating As Multiplying Access To Culture,” featured an incredible line up of African women artists like Ugandan-born Kenya-based photographer Sarah Waiswa, Ba Tonga Julia Kaunda-Kaseka (Zambia), Rose Jepkorir Kiptum (Kenya), Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa (Zimbabwe), Dr. Portia Malatjie (South Africa), Georgina Maxim (Zimbabwe), and Martha Kazungu (Uganda), who shared various invaluable insights about the subject and their experiences as artists.
About Obulo Bwaffe Festival
Obulo Bwaffe, meaning “Our Millet,” is a declaration of ownership. This multi-disciplinary arts festival, accompanying the 2025 Annual Njabala Exhibition(ANE), re-examines the Obulo Bwaffe folklore through a contemporary feminist lens, celebrating the power, knowledge, and unwavering agency of women. Obulo Bwaffe is not simply about showcasing art; it’s about generating new ideas, challenging existing paradigms, and creating a space for meaningful dialogue and critical engagement. ~ Njabala Foundation
About Obulo Bwaffe Folklore
"According to the common narration of Obulo Bwaffe folklore, twin sisters, Nakato and Babirye are sent by their mother Nnalongo to chase away the birds from eating their millet, amidst a famine while being chased off the millet, the birds sing back in resistance “Nakato leka twerire, Babirye leka twerire obulo bwaffe obwobulamu… ish-ish, twerire, ish-ish, tweliire obulo bwaffe obwobulamu. English translation: Nakato, leave us to eat, Babirye, leave us to eat our millet for life, leave us eat, ish-ish, let us eat, ish-ish, let us eat our millet for life.” - Martha Kazungu
Here are some of the highlights from the roundtable discussion that caught my attention:
Curating as a Path to Agency & Power: Reclaiming Women’s Voices & Redistributing Cultural Wealth By Sarah Waiswa
Sarah is a n award winning documentary and portrait photographer with an interest in exploring the New African Identity on the continent, and the founder of the African Women in Photography (AWiP), an organisation whose database currently comprises of over 100 editors, working together to strengthen the collective power of women. During her talk, she also revisited her previous exhibition ‘Sisi Ni Hao’. Sisi Ni Hao means we are them in Kiswahili. One of the observations from her work was the lack of agency, and she wanted to explore this and highlight the evolution of photography on the continent. For instance, some of the images shown in the exhibition was the first Kenyan woman to go to University. Her session looked at the following areas namely:
The exhibition took place at two venues: Afropocene and Xenson Art Space and showcased the captivating work of exceptional women artists such as: Evelyn Bageire, Diana Bwengye, Pamela Enyonu, Kashushu, Anna Maria Nabirye, and Sheila Nakitende; exploring themes of power, knowledge, and agency, while other activities were held in different venues around Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
The roundtable talk themed “Curating As Multiplying Access To Culture,” featured an incredible line up of African women artists like Ugandan-born Kenya-based photographer Sarah Waiswa, Ba Tonga Julia Kaunda-Kaseka (Zambia), Rose Jepkorir Kiptum (Kenya), Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa (Zimbabwe), Dr. Portia Malatjie (South Africa), Georgina Maxim (Zimbabwe), and Martha Kazungu (Uganda), who shared various invaluable insights about the subject and their experiences as artists.
About Obulo Bwaffe Festival
Obulo Bwaffe, meaning “Our Millet,” is a declaration of ownership. This multi-disciplinary arts festival, accompanying the 2025 Annual Njabala Exhibition(ANE), re-examines the Obulo Bwaffe folklore through a contemporary feminist lens, celebrating the power, knowledge, and unwavering agency of women. Obulo Bwaffe is not simply about showcasing art; it’s about generating new ideas, challenging existing paradigms, and creating a space for meaningful dialogue and critical engagement. ~ Njabala Foundation
About Obulo Bwaffe Folklore
"According to the common narration of Obulo Bwaffe folklore, twin sisters, Nakato and Babirye are sent by their mother Nnalongo to chase away the birds from eating their millet, amidst a famine while being chased off the millet, the birds sing back in resistance “Nakato leka twerire, Babirye leka twerire obulo bwaffe obwobulamu… ish-ish, twerire, ish-ish, tweliire obulo bwaffe obwobulamu. English translation: Nakato, leave us to eat, Babirye, leave us to eat our millet for life, leave us eat, ish-ish, let us eat, ish-ish, let us eat our millet for life.” - Martha Kazungu
Here are some of the highlights from the roundtable discussion that caught my attention:
Curating as a Path to Agency & Power: Reclaiming Women’s Voices & Redistributing Cultural Wealth By Sarah Waiswa
Sarah is a n award winning documentary and portrait photographer with an interest in exploring the New African Identity on the continent, and the founder of the African Women in Photography (AWiP), an organisation whose database currently comprises of over 100 editors, working together to strengthen the collective power of women. During her talk, she also revisited her previous exhibition ‘Sisi Ni Hao’. Sisi Ni Hao means we are them in Kiswahili. One of the observations from her work was the lack of agency, and she wanted to explore this and highlight the evolution of photography on the continent. For instance, some of the images shown in the exhibition was the first Kenyan woman to go to University. Her session looked at the following areas namely:
Challenging patriarchal and colonial narratives because photography has been very much a male and white concept. Even as the camera came to the continent. For example, in Nairobi spaces are an issue; they’re inaccessible hence on decolonizing spaces is key; and how African women saw themselves like going back to post cards back in the day, African women had little agency.
Centring women’s voices: Women owning their narratives and having control on how their stories are told.
African Women In photography: Elevating voices across the continent and how the platform (AWIP) has empowered photographers to tell their stories, understand their rights, etc. For example, when she had just started AWIF, she asked a friend about how much she should charge who told her we don’t really talk about rates, you just charge what you’re worth.
The curator as a multiplier of access: which reiterated how funding is a big obstacle for photographers, hence community building is a great place to start.
Reframing neglect and decolonizing space: Like having available artwork created but has never been showcased on the continent; creating work for others, thus reclaiming spaces not built for the locals in mind.
She summed it up with a reminder of the power of entitlement and resistance which epitomises the Obulo Bwaffe folklore 'Nakato leeka tweliire obulo bwaffe obwobulamu', a metaphor for women’s power.
Naijographia By Rose Jepkorir Kiptum
Rose is a curator based in Nairobi whose work aims to create opportunities/spaces to encounter each other.
They revisited their previous exhibition dubbed Naijographia and lessons from this experience such as: despite having funding/budget constraints, they learned that their work does not depend on a budget; it’s not contingent on a budget - it’s contingent on something else. In additional she was also exposed to the space issue, there was no space: and that was beginning of them thinking about infrastructure.
While trying to make space, they was faced with questions from other people like “Are you interested in making space, well we are interested in getting out of institutions.” In addition, their Masters thesis made them realise the gaps in art institutions in Kenya.
In their reflections, they understood certain things. For instance, they referenced a guy who used to pirate films in his cinema club/cinema salon; which got them thinking of certain dynamics that make it possible for us to access art / culture include hacking, cooperation, and collaboration.
On infrastructure building: They used to wonder why is it the artist who moves the infrastructure and references a poet who wrote about as an institution; the church’s solidarity systems; how it is built and how its constructed. They thought they would borrow from these instructions on ways to think and build institutions.
All in all, resource mobilisation and mobilisation of individuals were key learnings for them, not having enough resources presents you to alternative ways to think and pondering on why do we make something that attempts to be the thing but is not the thing?
Acoustic Veils: Fragility, Containment & Black Sonic Curation By Dr. Portia Malatjie
Dr. Portia is a curator and senior lecturer in Art History and Discourse of Art at the University of Cape Town. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and books, as well as exhibition catalogues.
Her session delved into the way in which voices occupy spaces becomes interesting when using sound in art exhibitions. With some of the exhibitions they’ve done using sound, most of the artists are not alive so they’re reimagining them in the museum space even without the sonic feel.
She also expounded on how sound operates in the museum space for Black women curators; and emphasised that sound is incredibly gendered and very racialised. For example, in an exhibition space it’s meant to be silent. In the same way Black women are sonically marked in society as loud. They don’t have to speak, there’s already a perceived loudness attached to them.
One of the ways to use sounds as a curatorial methods is through the practice of 'Sereto', a Northern Sotho Sepedi term that refers to an archive of a familial history; an oral tracing of a family history through family praise poems. This is something Dr. Portia does often at the start of her talks.
Through the idea of Sereto when working in colonial institutions we can do exhibitions through Sereto by bringing those pictorial ancestral practices in these spaces.
The Thought Process Behind Obulo Bwaffe Festival By Martha Kazungu
Martha is a curator, art historian, writer, as well as the founder of Njabala Foundation.
The ineffable dilemma with translating a folklore is the impossibility to derive precise words in that converted language. As such our translation of Obulo Bwaffe to our millet sounds like a vague translation nonetheless, our attempt to translate the folklore is informed by the desire to give as many people as possible access to its gist.
We are avidly struck by the blatant utterance of the singing birds that the millet is theirs. While we do not know what happened before the famine falls or how Nakato and Babirye respond to the singing birds, one does not need the whole story to arrive at our reading; that a wealthy and powerful woman is placed at the centre with fields bountiful in the middle of a famine. A woman conversant with her belongings and brave enough to boldly confront the singing birds through her children.
As we witness the world we live in today, one where many people play a part of the singing birds, the part of shameless entitlement to women’s produce, labour, bodies, care, etc; the story emerges as an ironic provocation The singing birds actually imitate the cultures we have inhabited today; those that unflinchingly declare ownership of women’s harvests regardless of their absence at the time of sowing. With ever so many singing birds in women’s lives, their resulting noise is not only deafening, but also a constant distraction. Women find themselves preoccupied with this precarious noise so often that they forget to relieve their own power.
Reclaiming women’s power: She alludes to their previous work of the Annual Njabala Exhibitions as a telling case in point of where the themes of their previous work has missed one important aspect of reclaiming women’s power, hence the 2025 edition of Obulo Bwaffe Festival theme reclaims women’s power. It’s in this spirit that 2025 seeks to manifest a more flamboyant experience cognisant of the inherent power that womanhood entails. And through pacing a bountiful field of millet in the ownership of the woman during a famine, the Obulo Bwaffe story inevitably alludes to the inherent woman’s power, as such, a title is a remembrance and a motivation of the power that women embody, at the same time, a title is a denunciation of the singing birds’ entitlement to that which belongs to Nnalongo and her children; and to many other women by extension.
This from the beginning was a platform for knowledge creation. Taking a part of Obulo Bwaffe and extracted three main themes namely: Power, Knowledge & Agency. Visual art, performative art; the festival as a whole is a celebration of womanhood and an acknowledgment of the honourable traits that we embody.
Some Highlights From The Q&A Session
On what curatorial practice is: Curatorial work is self expression, it’s solidarity, making sure. people are well represented and keeping solidarity, a process of exploration from a research context, whatever you’re doing right now, what’s going on in your mind right now.
On exclusion in institutions: how do you as a creator not fall into the gatekeeping?: Collaboration and inter-generational collaboration. For example, put out a call for more artists than picking the ones you know; we are human we have biases so being self-aware, some agency ought to be given to the artist as well because power goes both ways, and lastly, experience. We tend to forget that their have been people on the continent that have been doing the work who are not on billboards, yet we don’t seek their support. We have to acknowledge their work. No collective memory from the elders. No interaction. There has to be intention to tap into the experience of those who have been doing this for long.
Concluding Thoughts
The major highlight for me was decolonising spaces and agency, and not only in the arts and culture space, but literally everywhere. From academia, to corporate, etc. Can you imagine the reality of doing away with something intentionally built to limit you? That’s one hell of a task, and a big shoutout to all the artists working towards this; your work matters.
Njabala is basically the patron saint of “bad girls” and the foundation spearheading this festival being called the same name is an act of resistance. We need to be mindful of the symbolism in our folklore and tradition as a whole to avoid being engrained by folklore or tradition at large. Take it with a pinch of salt if you will, and most importantly, always apply critical thought.
Njabala Foundation is undeniably a vital contributor to the arts and culture scene in Uganda; and East Africa / Africa at large, while amplifying African women’s stories with their ever-so intentional feminist lens, which is an overarching approach across their work since inception.
It’s interesting and equally perplexing how we live by these ingrained narratives to our detriment, even the most exposed and well-read, including feminists! This is why questioning and observing, and archiving are important, they allow us to look back compare and contrast and sieve through what to carry on in our evolution as a people. This informs how we navigate life and defining and choosing our preferred paths as opposed to adhering to the status quo, worse off, one that perpetuates our oppression and avoiding being perpetuators of our suffering onto others.
Very Important
Njabala Foundation's festivals are made possible by an incredible team of volunteers. No one gets paid, including the founder, Martha Kazungu. So, if you are interested in creating safe spaces for women artists to blossom, kindly donate here.
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