Uganda’s queen of Jewelry art, Teddy Nabisenke will be holding a three-week solo-exhibition dubbed the “Tsenke Xperience” at the Design Agenda Bar in Kampala, Uganda from September 30. The talented artist will be showcasing some of her rare pieces mostly made from recycled materials.
Nabisenke’s art, tackles as it were ‘the PESTLE idea that is Politics, economics, social issues, technology, legal matters, and the environment’. The artist hopes to use the exhibition to delve into the issues surrounding art such as censorship, curatorship, audience for art and the entrepreneurial skill in the art scene.
Nabisenke has had an interest in art ever since she was little, thanks to the support she has had from her parents who also love art and a strong art foundation from her schooling days; right from primary school to the university. Her art espouses her experience as seen in the innovative jewelry and installations she makes.
According to her, the jewelry and installations of African beauty are not just a fashion statement but speak volumes about African cultural norms and practices both traditional and modern. For instance, her black piece- a mannequin in black dress with barbed wire laced around it and two bottled lamps burning at its hems. According to Nabisenke, “This piece represents modern human slavery which has made females to be victims and sad enough they are sold off by fellow females.”
Her art can be described as intense and critical with a slight touch of feminist awakening that echoes through the misguided choices Africans make in relation to buying clothes and lifestyles in general. It opens a debate on the trending social norms and tries to reposition women as human beings and not just objects sold off to the highest bidder.
Furthermore, Nabisenke’s art interrogates the innate potential in creating the African identity by creating what essentially is a medium that speaks for the love of African culture and mourns at the despicable pollution of the true spirit of Africa scarred by the western culture. The artist also tackles the question of environmental pollution and focusing on humanities’ role in conservation through recycling.
The “Tsenke Xperience” exhibition ends on October 14.