Painting as identity reconstruction : socially concerned art and Batwa material culture

Abstract

In Southwestern Uganda, material culture of the Batwa pygmies has been overtly manifested in a number of ways through painterly narratives produced by Edward Kamugisha to record images defining their collective identity. In this article, the discussion is centred on some of the striking narratives employed in the visual arts to reclaim the vanishing cultural artefacts, which are significant in the traditional way of life of the Batwa pygmies. In light of social and cultural identity of the Batwa pygmies, and of their need for survival expressed through their cultural heritage in Southwestern Uganda, a series of paintings as a form of identity reconstruction emerged through studio-investigation. Consequently, those narratives became an agency for cultural preservation. Consequently, the following questions emerge: How did the Batwa pygmies of Southwestern Uganda express their identity through material culture? How could the gap between traditional ethnography and contemporary visual arts practice be bridged? How would integrating process and artefact serve as painting reclamations? How should the material culture of the Batwa pygmies be re-imagined as socially concerned art? This article addresses those questions taking into consideration some lessons to be learned which may not be limited to Batwa pygmies of Southwestern Uganda but would inform broader conversations concerning how art would be used to address socio-cultural issues.