Kaduukagram (K’la art 2021)
Exhibition Title: Kaduukagram
Exhibition Type: Public Site-Specific Solo Installation & Guided Photo Walk
Producing Institution: 32° East | Ugandan ArtsTrust
Venue: Keti Falao, Kawempe, Kampala, Uganda
Exhibition Run: October 25th – November 5th, 2021
Festival Theme: Care Instructions
Medium: Public Interactive Photography & social media Hybrid Installation
Exhibition Narrative
Commissioned for the landmark KLA ART 21 public art festival, "Kaduukagram" is an immersive neighborhood exhibition that completely redefined where and how contemporary art is encountered in Kampala. The project’s title cleverly fuses buduuka (the Luganda word for small, informal neighborhood retail kiosks) with Instagram, the digital platform where the year-long photographic journey originally unfolded.
Produced by 32° East | Ugandan Arts Trust under the global festival theme "Care Instructions," the project tackled the intense isolation and spatial restrictions of the post-COVID-19 pandemic landscape. Rather than trying to cram audiences into restrictive indoor galleries, the exhibition transformed the vibrant streets of Keti Falao, Kawempe into an open-air pavilion. Large-scale documentary photographs were mounted directly onto the exterior walls of local makeshift shops and kiosks.
Featured artworks
The visual strategy created a fascinating socio-economic reversal. The printed photographs displayed sleek, corporate, high-rise architecture from Kampala’s elite city center- spaces that the working- class suburb dwellers often face bureaucratic barriers entering. By hanging images of inaccessible elite spaces onto the accessible, resilient structures of informal community kiosks, the installation elevated these humble shops as the true cornerstones of neighborhood care, mutual aid, and survival. To deepen the public laboratory experience, a guided "Kaduukagram Photo Walk" invited passersby, community elders, and local youths to interact with the images, sparking critical conversations about urban class divides, economic exclusion, and neighborhood visibility.
Installation views and public activations
