Kiggundu Rodney
Around this time last year, I was on my trip back from India. While in transit, a thought crossed my mind. “How about I make an art studio for myself”. This I remember sharing with one of my biggest supporters, my mum, whose support always comes in handy. This trip was actually a challenge I put to myself, especially being away from home for that long (1 month). Like they always say, challenge yourself with something always bigger than your usual. All in all, it was quite an amazing experience thanks to my Global Art Festival family. One thing I am grateful for is the amazing artists I met on that trip, tapping from their creativity, knowledge, lessons and skills that challenged me to grow as an artist.
Fast forward to March 2020, the pandemic hit my country Uganda so hard pushing us into total lockdown. A time that pushed us into immense fear but also self-reflection for many. Thankfully the fear didn’t make me abort the mission. A few weeks later, I embarked on setting up my studio space.
To be honest, the past 8 – 9 months haven’t been an easy road. There are times I almost gave up but remembering why I had started kept me going as I had to get done with it regardless. As I have shared with many of my closest friends before, it’s been one hell of a crazy journey/experience. (Look out for the behind the scenes of this on my YouTube Channel which will also soon be up and running. Subscribe subscribe…)
I am happy to announce that I will be opening up my very first Art Studio soon in Ndejje, Wakiso District, 10 mins away from the city centre. This will be my haven and a place you can get me working on my art and helping other young artisans as well. (Check Google Maps for Directions).
On top of that, I’ll be launching shirts and jumpers in this month of February featuring some of the works I did during the lockdown period (#10PieceSeries). T-shirts will go for 30k whereas jumpers will be at 50k.
I am very thankful to the people that have supported me on this journey.
Why the Studio?
With quite an experience working with communities, this is one of the factors that pushed me to open up one. Remember the initial idea was to have a studio space for myself. But thinking about art and the work my team and I do with communities always pushes me back to question how my art can reflect the community I live in.
Unlike the usual, I decided to set up my studio in the outskirts of town in a community where there’s a growing number of young people. Young artisans looking for spaces to let their art flourish but cannot get to the city centre. Growing up, I didn’t have such spaces at my disposal too. All I had was a pencil and book.
I want to use this space to tap into the creativity of my community and help young artisans grow their art as I grow my art as well. But also key is promoting mindfulness (A very key aspect in stimulating creativity) through sessions and workshops which I’ll be sharing about soon. Watch the space.
Greatest lesson: The big challenge is to become all that you have a possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit ~ Jim Rohni
Happy New Month.
Dream | Discover | Connect.
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