When Saints, Sinners, and Iron Sheets Sparked Conversations in Kaberamaido
The dusty Esigu Grounds in Kaberamaido District became an unlikely art hub last July when Wamala Kyeyune Joseph’s Saints & Sinners exhibition rolled into town. Some locals arrived expecting a musical concert – “artist” in these parts usually means a microphone-toting performer, not a painter. Their confusion quickly turned to fascination when confronted with Wamala’s powerful acrylic works, where halos doubled as coins and corrugated iron sheets became canvases for life’s struggles.
This wasn’t just an art show – it was Wamala’s visual diary, chronicling his observations from bouncing between Adelaide’s multicultural streets and Kampala’s vibrant chaos. “The human race is fixed,” Wamala muses in his artist statement, “Not to prevent the strong from winning but to prevent the weak from losing.” This tension between spiritual aspiration and material reality pulses through every piece.
The exhibition’s genius lay in its relatable symbolism. Those omnipresent corrugated iron backdrops? They’re the fences we all hide behind while constructing our lives, the same barriers that become billboards for public expression. Wamala’s coin-halos posed uncomfortable questions: Does wealth determine virtue? When we judge the well-off as “saints” and the humble as “sinners,” what does that say about our values?
Standout pieces like I Shall Not Want – with its red and yellow political barriers trapping a praying child – hit particularly hard. “It’s about Uganda’s political situation,” Wamala explains, “but also about any system where people become collateral damage in power struggles.” The collaborative works with Yiga Joshua and Dungu Michael added layers to this meditation on shared human experiences.
What began as cultural confusion (“You mean this kind of artist?”) evolved into profound engagement. Elders saw their struggles in Bread Winner, youth debated Relatives Unknown, and everyone recognized those iron sheets from their daily lives. By exhibition’s end, even the most skeptical visitors understood Wamala’s core message: we’re all works in progress, simultaneously saints and sinners, hiding behind our fences while yearning for transcendence.
As the paintings came down, the conversations continued – exactly as Wamala intended. His art didn’t provide answers but framed the questions beautifully: about wealth and worth, barriers and breakthroughs, and whether we’ll ever stop mistaking coins for halos.
Behind the Vision
Artist: Wamala Kyeyune Joseph
Curator: Trevor Mukholi
Scenic Design: Kenneth Kanaabi
Production: Vodo Arts Society and Lab
Supporting Partners: Underground, Afrotoned, Artzy Creative, Nation Artists
