Sanaa designs rich in culture

By Rovianne Matovu Sanaa Gateja is a very original painter and jewellry designer. This is his first jewellry exhibition, but he has exhibited three times at Tulifanya Gallery in Kampala. This is not so much a departure but a new venture. Gateja has a very impressive CV. He went to Namutamba Primary School and Old Kampala Secondary School. He has studied, worked and exhibited abroad in Britain, Italy, Germany, Kenya and Uganda. It was in Italy that his jewellry took shape as he learnt the intricacies of technique as well as Italian design which was to bear fruit later on. In 1982, he studied product design and African art at the Universita Internazionale dell Art. This was followed by an intense apprenticeship with an eminent Japanese jeweller, Tomazo Yashimoto. From 1983 to 1985, he studied at the London College of Art and Design, learning more about jewellry design. Gateja is insatiably inquisitive and a driven perfectionist. He has had an interesting life of both employment and self-employment. Back in 1970s Gateja set up The Sanaa Gallery in Mombasa, Kenya. He also freelanced as an interior designer. After 18 years abroad, he decided to come back to his roots. In 1989 he started Kwetu Afrika Studios, the name under which he works as a painter jeweller in Uganda. He set up a workshop at Kilembe Mines, Kasese, where he developed his unique technique of recycling paper into beads. This prompted him to research into bead-making using materials ranging from clay, horn, bone to paper. In 1986, Gateja had an exhibition at The Africa Centre in London on recycling materials into jewellry and jewellry making. This was set up to celebrate the new government of President Yoweri Museveni. In 1991, he participated in the Berlin Art Trade Fair in Germany where he exhibited his unique invention of making jewellry from recycled paper. He was invited to put on similar exhibitions in Munich and Cologne. That same year, Gateja had his very first exhibition in Uganda at The National Cultural Centre which consisted of paintings and jewellry. This was after an absence of 18 years in exile. He was asked again to exhibit at the Nommo Gallery the following year. In 1996, Gateja was part of a group of 10 exhibition artists at the end of an international art workshop organised by the British Council. At the current exhibition, this is the first time Gateja uses leather. The leather is locally processed in Kampala. It is very strong and durable. He hesitates to use indigenous bark cloth in his jewellry pieces except when he incorporates them into beads. Gateja appreciates the cultural values and properties attached to bark cloth in Ugandan culture. He enjoys using it in his paintings which gives them their rich and dense three dimensional effect. Gateja also enjoys the grain in the bark which inspires him to use abstraction in his work. The bark cloth comes from traders in Masaka District. The ostrich egg shells he uses come from Karamoja in northeastern Uganda, and the clay comes from Kajjansi on the way to Entebbe. It is always exciting to see Gateja's jewellry. It reminds one of Egyptian costumes. Gateja is keen to dig deep into the African past and rich heritage. His influences come from all over Africa. He feels we do not tap our inner resources enough. There is so much more to be discovered and the body acts as an interesting site onto which he can make his creative explorations. The current exhibition is of a pot pourri of artists including Marianne Wilts, Theresa Musoke, Bruno Sserunkuma and Dan Ssekweyama at Tulifanya Gallery, Hannington Road, Kampala.