Is this for real?

By Elvis Basudde THOSE who attended Elly Wamala's Ani yali amanyi music show at the International Conference Centre recently, might have mistaken plants used to decorate the background stage for natural ones. The conference centre was dimly lit and the effects of the stage lights gave the plants colours, that made them look natural. The art pieces of banana plants, orange trees and yam tubers made the back stage look like a real garden placed at the stage. It was only after Senkubuge Siasa, master of ceremony, revealed the plants were just art pieces that we came to our senses. These art pieces are works of Omega Katula Mpaka. Made of nothing else but paper, glue, paint, wires, pins, pliers, ribbons and other items, Katula gets these raw materials from Owino Market. Mpaka's artistic innovation has earned him respect in his residential area of Kasubi, near Kampala. "Art is still very difficult for ordinary Ugandans to understand. This is because most of it tends to have a European influence and fails to communicate," observes Mpaka. He says that while there are other Ugandans who find Ugandan modern art very interesting, the price remains an obstacle. "I rent out my decoration works for weddings, graduations and any other form of celebrations, and thereafter I pack it up and take it for storage ready to use at some other time," he says. Mpaka says that the biggest advantage with his work over contemporary art, is that it can be easily dismantled and assembled. It is stored and can be used over and over again without much depreciation. So it is always generating income. His workshop has stacks of paper and other raw materials ranging from pieces of iron sheets, paints, tins on which the work stands. There is also a welding machine to hold all the accessories he uses to give the plants their different faces. He says however, that the process of 'giving life' to a still object is not a bed of roses. He starts the process by slicing the paper according to his rough sketch. He proceeds to glue the various parts so that the final 'plant' has a hard surface. If he is working on the banana olulagala (leaf), it is that background steam that takes most of the paper, that is added continuously to make it hard and solid. He then glues it again, paints over according to what he wants to make it look like, ripe, fresh, and then puts it out to dry. "This innovation is as a result of days on the street when I was laid off from my work. I was working with Uganda Cooperative Transport Union (UCTU) in the advertising department when I was laid off in 1995," he says. When he hit the street, he then turned to art, and thought of something unique and very difficult to copy. "I thought of something that could easily be sold to the public at a fairly cheap price," he says. He says that the beginning was very challenging because when he produced his first lot of work, the pieces were very weak and highly fragile and he could not take it off the stage without messing it up. "That was my first setback. I had to go through the course again with precautions continuously building on the already existing products. Now I believe that I have firm solid items that can be used for a longer period of time," he says Mpaka is not a gambler in the art world. He graduated with a diploma in Education from National Teacher College (NTC) - now Institute of Teacher Education (ITEK), Kyambogo in 1984. He says that during his training at college, students did not study anything like the art he is practising today. Then he painted and designed some graphics, wrote essays, studied development studies and underwent teaching practice. "What I am doing is original and it is my creation. This art is quite different because it is art within sculpture, painting and craftwork. I have not seen any art work like this anywhere," he says. For the last seven years that Mpaka has been in the business of decoration, he has not seen another decorator with work similar to his. "Artists are copy cats. You come up with something new but the following month, people copy it. But my artwork is in its original copy it. But nobody has been able to copy my artwork, so far," he says proudly. Mpaka says that on average he covers about 45 functions in a year which include weddings, graduations, introduction ceremonies and minor parties. He however says that Wamala's show was the first time he handled a musical gala. "Some people do not know about my work but those who have hired my services before, are the ones who publicise my work. They look for me and bring customers," he says. Mpaka has been living on art since he was laid off eight years ago. Decoration artwork plays a big role in earning his keep. He also prints T-shirts, post cards, designs billboards and also makes sign-posts. Mpaka has been able to build himself a house at Masanafu and pay fees for his brothers and his family of three children. "What you see here, is just the tip of an iceberg. However, I am constrained by financial backing and lack of work. If I can be supported adequately, I can assure you I have much more to offer," he says finally. Ends