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The Food basket is a segment of Iraa-the Granary that delves into the resources that we have and can harness within our artistic communities both locally and internationally. These resources are in 2 categories; 1. Mid-career & Professional practitioners, 2. Services and their various providers.

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Mid-career & Professionals

Under this segment, Iraa-the Granary invites people who are mid-career to professionals in art related fields to share about their practices through lectures, symposiums, workshops, talks and so on. The aim for this segment is to exploit the knowledge bases that already exist within our networks as sources for learning, inspiration and possible collaboration. Some of the professionals we aim to reach through the Food basket programing include artists, curators, writers, poets, accountants, lawyers etc.

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Services and their various providers

This segment is majorly a database of sorts encompassing contacts of service providers, transport and logistic companies, interesting podcasts, books, publishers to work with and so on. The creation of this database is an attempt to minimize workings with shoddy and unprofessional service providers in Uganda as the database is built based on recommendations of individuals who have worked with the service providers before. It can be a go to list for quick transactions while in Uganda. 

Abakyala be'Namutamba tebalela ngalo. (Food Basket session 1) Hosted by Sanaa Gateja and the community in Namutamba. 17.02.2024

When we think of the eco-systems that exist around our practices as artists, it becomes apparent that we can’t exist without community consciously or unconsciously. 17.02.2024 gave us the opportunity to further understand the community, assistants, ecosystems that support Sanaa Gateja and his art practice. A bit Beyond just the Art if there is ever really a separation between life lived and an artist’s practice. We were hosted at the beautiful home of auntie Eva, The artist’s elder sister whose presence and level of control only exudes admirable matriarchal power. The one thing that has stood out since the inception of these Iraa activities is the level of generosity that is quite honestly humbling and in the case of this 1st ever FOOD BASKET SESSION hosted by Sanaa and the community in Namutamba, it is the power of good relations that the session so strongly reflects. The women from Namutamba Women Victors Group cooked food and said omukolo gwafee temutusasula… literally we are happy to cook without payment for our labor because the event is our own. A statement that exudes community responsibility and generosity that has slowly been eroded from urban spaces that function on a capitalist mentality. We had the opportunity to walk to the tea factory where Sanaa’s father worked , to the kisawe (open field) where all community activities happened and still happen including  Boxing Day fashion shows, football matches, village meetings, election of leaders and a show of the most well fed chubby babies. We had the opportunity to visit a piece of land belonging to the artist that he intends to develop into a studio space as well as museum for the community. Conversations on what museum means in this context are currently ongoing and we look forward to encountering what that might be. The women spoke so fondly of the artist each giving an account of how they came to be a part of his community of artist assistants. The fair compensation for the work they do while working on a project could not be missed. 

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