About the Artist

Ronex Ahimbisibwe from western Uganda was the first person in his family to go beyond primary school and, thanks to his family’s support, he attended the Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts at Makerere University. Founded in 1937 by Trowell, a British artist and teacher who had studied art at the Slade School in London, the school is considered to be the top art school in East Africa.

Another painting by Ahimbisibwe of a nun praying called Contemplation 2 was exhibited with a rosary hanging beneath it. He said that he wondered what people think about as they recite the rosary, and wanted to explore the idea of “humans who, at any moment, live a certain experience or life, while thinking or desiring, another life altogether.”

Ahimbisibwe became successful early in his career and took on the support of his family and other artists in Uganda. With his own money, he created a studio and art space for local artists called FasFas, where they could work. He also developed a Facebook page called Art Uganda to preserve a record of their work because the country does not have a national art collection.

Ahimbisibwe creates in a broad range of materials - he uses acrylics on paper and bark cloth, makes woodcut prints and digital art, and produces furniture. He has had many group and solo exhibitions in Europe and Africa.