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The Food basket
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
Food Basket sessions host conversations that highlight the people and knowledge systems that nourish our artistic ecosystems. 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.
Weaving Knowledge: Mat-Making, Women’s Craft & Living Archives on Thursday 2nd April 2026 in collaboration with Njabala Foundation in Nakwero, Gayaza.
This session draws inspiration from the Karibu Exhibition, a project by the Njabala Foundation dedicated to creating safe spaces for women artists to blossom. Meaning both “welcome” and “close to” in Swahili, Karibu foregrounds women’s creative labor that has historically been rendered invisible.
The exhibition brings traditional mat-makers (mukeeka) into dialogue with contemporary artists from the 2025 Karibu residency. By centering these women as both cultural custodians and creative innovators, the project explores the power of naming and the patient labor embedded in making—recognising these practices as living visual languages and repositories of indigenous knowledge.
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With a focus on engaging the student community, we brought together students, lecturers and other participants for an artist walkabout and discussions centered on the histories of Mukeka (mat) weaving as shared by the artisans. The goal of this engagement was to explore connections within traditional craft practices, examine patterns developed across generations, and consider how these relate to contemporary art today. Participating students came from Kyambogo University, Nkumba University, the Margaret Trowel School of Industrial and Fine Arts at Makerere University, and Nagenda International Academy of Art and Design.
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Image Credit: Walusimbi Emmanuel
Namala Olivia, born on October 28, 1975, in the vibrant community of Lukuli Makinye in Kampala District, is a dedicated artist and craftsman with a passion for community development. Growing up in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Mutibwa Edward, Namala's artistic journey began early in life. She completed her Primary Leaving Examination in 1987, followed by an Ordinary Level Certificate of Education from Lubaga Girls Secondary School in 1991.
With a commitment to enriching her community, Namala founded "Namala Art & Crafts for Community Development," located in Kisoga, Mukono District. Her work focuses on handcrafts, where she collaborates with local youth and women, fostering creativity and skills development. By utilizing local fibers, she not only preserves traditional craftsmanship but also empowers her community members through sustainable practices.
In addition to her craftwork, Namala has recently launched a workshop that serves as a creative hub for artistic expression and collaboration in her local area. Through her initiatives, she continues to inspire and uplift those around her, making a significant impact in her community.
Darren Akoragye is a multimedia artist and graphic designer whose work centres on identity, connection, and the natural patterns that emerge from her intuitive practice over time. She approaches art with a focus on process, using printmaking, digital art and design, and painting to explore how personal and shared stories are woven together. Darren’s style combines spontaneity with discipline, as she uses rhythm and repetition to add depth to her pieces, using art mediums like ink, watercolour, collage. Each artwork reflects her belief that the creative process itself is just as important as the final piece. Based in Uganda, Darren is also dedicated to supporting other artists in her community. She hopes her work inspires viewers to think about their place in the bigger picture and to feel connected to a broader story.
Diana Mary Laruni (b. 1998) is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Kampala, Uganda. Diana’s work reveals the transformative power of natural materials, particularly maize husks. Often discarded and overlooked, maize husks hold immense creative potential, and Diana’s artistic practice explores their rebirth into new forms. Her work is deeply influenced by her personal experiences as an African woman navigating the complexities of a traditional upbringing in the context of a rapidly evolving modern society. Diana’s practice integrates diverse techniques, such as stitching, which emphasizes themes of repair, mending, attachment and healing, reflecting layers of personal and collective human experiences. Her works explore contemporary visual narratives around identity, relationships, care, memory, and self-discovery which are reflected in artistic forms like sculpture, photography, digital art, fashion, and installation art. In 2022, Diana graduated with first-class honors in Industrial and Fine Art from Uganda Christian University. Her works have been featured in group exhibitions, including By’abakazi at Umoja Art Gallery (2024), The Resilient Spirit Exhibition by Muumba Collective (2023), and Beyond Memories at Uganda Christian University (2022). She held her first solo exhibition, Mother of Child, at Agandy Studios (2023). Diana has also participated in the 32 Degrees East artist residency (2022) and The Resilient Spirit Workshop by Muumba Collective (2023).
Mapping the Unseen Artist Walk About with Piloya Irene (The Food Basket 3) 31.10.2024
"Mapping the Unseen" delved into the profound and intricate exploration of memory, identity, and the concept of home. Through this exhibition, Piloya embarked on a journey to understand how memories_especially those shaped by displacement, upheaval, and drastic change_ reconstruct our sense of belonging. The works engage with themes of loss, adaptation and the fluid nature of what we call home, highting how our inner landscapes evolve in response to life's disruptions...", as extracted from the exhibition text
As part of our research into archival processes in artistic practices, the artist walk about with Piloya invited us to embrace personal curiosities with the work; its materiality, conceptual themes, titling, curatorial choices and so on.
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Image Credit: Brian Kasirye Dizney media
Piloya Irene is an artist and art teacher currently working between Kumasi, Ghana and Uganda. Piloya uses sculpture, painting and film to explore personal experience of displacement and its effects, memory and history in relation to place, identity and belonging. She has a Post Graduate Diploma in Art Education from Kyambogo University 2019, Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Fine Art and Design from Uganda Christian University 2016 and concluded a Master’s program in Painting and Sculpture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana.
Expressing Home [ In Splintered Reality ] an artist walk about with Pamela Enyonu, Artist talk with Martha Kazungu. A collaboration between Iraa - the Granary, Vodo Art Society and the Artist Pamela Enyonu. (The Food Basket 2)
"The exhibition “Ateker, ijasi biyayi? – Greetings from the road (A dedication)” marks a homecoming for Pamela Enyonu, being her first solo exhibition in the country. The exhibition includes older pieces as well as a completely new body of work that sets out to explore Ugandan history and self-understanding narrated through Enyonu’s particular gaze, in a country whose borders were drawn in someone else’s sketchbook. Based on readings as diverse as Okot p’Bitek’s “Songs of Lawino” through Maya Angelou, Chinua Achebe and Frantz Fanon (to only name a few) the artist’s works gaze into the shards of the broken mirror we like to call home – from its social interactions to its foundational myths." (as extracted from the website)
Image Credit: Hype media
Pamela Enyonu (b. 1985) is a Ugandan multimedia artist based in Kampala. Her practice probes identity, history, and gender complexities. In 2018, Enyonu received the inaugural Makumbya Musoke Art Prize. Since then she has workshopped, exhibited and done residencies in Africa, Europe and the UK, notably Africa 1:1 in Venice and the DKC Residency at York University (both 2023). Her work was featured in museum exhibitions such as Ca’ Pesaro Museum Venice (2023) where she confronted the idea of home in and as a foreign body for the first time. This not only enriched her experience on what it means to thrive as a black body moving through the world, it also enhanced her visual vocabulary. Her work was also featured at Makarere University Gal lery, Kampala (2023), Wolfsburg Museum (2022), as wel l as Africa 2020, Marseil le (2021). Enyonu’s work is part of notable public and private col lections, including the University of York Col lection (UK), Moleskine Foundation (Italy), Valmont Foundation (Switzerland), Woldburg Museum (Germany), and Ca’ Pesaro Museum (Italy)
Abakyala be'Namutamba tebalela ngalo. (The Food Basket 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.
Image Credit: Hype media
Sanaa Gateja (b. 1950, Kisoro, Uganda) makes intricate works from post-consumer paper that he rolls into beads, sewing them onto bark cloth supports in tapestry-like assemblages. Up close, the beads offer glimpses, between folds, of their past lives—as vintage posters, pages from wig sales pamphlets, and outdated textbooks, among other things. His distinctive method requires the involvement of members of his community, whom he has trained and employed since the early 1990s. Gateja envisions artists as agents for social, political, and environmental transformation, and art-making as an act of ecological and spiritual repair. Disrupting conventional distinctions between figuration and abstraction, and two-dimensional work and sculpture, the resulting swirling, mosaic-like pieces instead draw affective connections between people and their surroundings. Gateja lives in Kampala, Uganda.