09 February 2024
Vivid Synergies! Project Edition Vol. I
Featured Artists: Ingabire Gretta and Muhumuza Denzel
This book presents a curated composition with images by the Ugandan digital artist Muhumuza Denzel and poetry and monologues by the Rwandan writer Ingabire Gretta, who joined the first Vivid Synergies residency – a programme by Afriart Gallery, supported through the Ignite Culture Fund, connecting East African artists, writers and curators. With three residencies in total, each one fuses an artist and a writer working together for four months exploring a theme of their choice and being joined by a curated at the end of their journey.
During their residency from July to December 2023 Ingabire Gretta and Muhumuza Denzel explored how human connects with the natural environment while acknowledging cultural and ancestral aspects and beliefs. Denzel’s artworks manifest as surrealistic digital collages that portray people existing within tranquil natural environments and amongst celestial bodies that are part of the vast universe. The writings of Gretta manifest as a verbal art form; an extension of the visual art and this shared narrative is expressed by way of poetry and storytelling. While Denzel and Gretta’s art production is a celebration of beauty and a reinforcement of connectivity, it is also an open gateway into socio-political dialogue regarding our existence within/as a part of nature, digging deeper into the spirituality and connections with our ancestral roots and beliefs of African people.
Together with their exhibition that took place from 2nd December 2023 until 6th January 2024 at Akamwesi Mall in suburban Kyebando of Kampala City, curated by Gloria Coutinho, the book chants the outcome of Denzel’s and Gretta’s residency voyage.
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The book can be purchased at Afriart Gallery for UGX 20,000.
For international orders, please contact [email protected].
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