Pictures that spoke to us

By Charles Opolot NOMMO Gallery with the support of Italian embassy has again opened its doors to the public with a three weeks All Artists exhibition. The exhibition which opened last Monday also marked the end of the third year reunion day for artists as members of one family. Emmanuel Mutungi, the Nommo Gallery director, said the gallery was now a busy and exciting place to belong to, with this year's asking whether visual communication contributes to the wellbeing of society. Luigi Napolitano, the Italian ambassador, who was chief guest at the opening ceremony said the world of visual art is a sophiscated field but also an arena where everyone can express his or her level of perception and appreciation of life. Indeed art is about visual interpretation of our feelings, happiness, sorrow, success or failures. All these feelings have been expressed by over 150 art pieces exhibited at the gallery. The artistic expressions used by the artists vary from the simplistic two dimensional style to three dimensional, where the inevitable power of belonging engulfs one like a desert storm. It is all about peace and grace as well as love and hope. Take for example Ssekweyama's metal sculpture titled The Girl. It stands out with magnificient simplicty and demobilising humility. The girls's timid eyes, her disarming face glittering with faltering faith and innocence stand together in a calm, but tender balance. Her sprouting breasts combine perfectly with the dramatic glitter of her braids and necklace on an elegant neck. The whole piece portrays the amazing beauty and generous tenderness of African culture. It also shows the contradiction of our existence, the massive threat of cultural invasion, the irony of give and take, a value that all of us must accept. Another captivating art piece is that of Ndwula Kaddu entitled Labour pains. It is a very simple banana collage piece of work which jumps out of the frame the moment you give it a second stare. The cubism composition in this work is so intricately woven together that a believer in Christ would kneel down in recognition of the anointing power of the cross. The simplistic but technically intricate balance of negatives and positives in this work make it naturally amiable and down to earth. It is a sincere representation of faith and accomodative expression of sincerity. The sharp line contrast and the plain pleasant colour composition run around the artwork like a village belle dance gone sour. When eventually Jacob Odama exposes the face of a young boy, titled Innocence he deliberately accuses us of negligence and child abuse. In short we are all a guilty lot, no longer worth our names. We have instead created street families. The nostalgia in the boy's face is so real and disturbing that one develops a feeling that society has simply transferred its social failures to its children, who are too small to carry the burden. The boy bites his fingers with begging eyes and a sympathetic face, far reluctant to allocate fault to adults who torture his innocence. His spirit is willing to talk about our cruelty, but the body poignantly is weak. Odama carefully and sparingly blends colour with great intermarriage that runs through the artwork like a rainbow choice. Joseph Mugisha , Charity Namakula , Musoke Ssekindi, Harriet Nakirijja, Denno, Odokonyero and Singh Maninder share the same style with Odama. Ends.