Graffiti Roots | KAMWOKYA TRESOR LEARNING CENTRE & CENTENARY BANK BUILDING NKRUMAH ROAD
By Fatuma Hassan
For KLA ART, Fatuma has been exploring historical forms of graffiti practised in the Bahima, Basoga, Nubia communities, created by women as a way of telling stories and personalising spaces. Fatuma Hassan welcomes women back into the predominantly male contemporary graffiti sphere in Uganda. These community care instructions will be reinforced with the B-Girl Cypher and a community workshop primarily focused on women. Fatuma will tell stories of our historic lifestyle on heritage material and then display it in the epicentre of Kampala’s CBD, juxtaposing the new and the old. When graffiti started it was a rebellion, a taking back of public space for the public. In the same way, her care instructions reclaim and take ownership of public space by personalising it with women’s stories.

Fatuma Hassan is an abstract painter, muralist and graffiti artist who lives and works in Kampala, Uganda but is native to Ndjamena, Chad. Her colourful paintings pay homage to African Traditional Culture. Her distinctive personal style stems from the joy, love, peace and music that express the vibrant spirit and atmosphere of African culture.

She is a member of the Uganda Visual Artists and Designers Association (UVADA), and an ambassador for The Creative Tribe. Fatuma has proudly exhibited in Jinja’s Popup Gallery, Gulu’s Elephante Commons, and had a solo exhibition at Fort Portal’s Crater Lakes Art in the Jungle. Together with selected artists around Uganda, she participated in the Moleskin Foundation’s AtWork project facilitated by Simon Njami, where her work was exhibited in New York – U.S.A.

Fatuma Hassan continues to inspire the youth, and to grow her amazing talent each day as she dares to challenge her limits. Having participated in major exhibitions across Uganda and East Africa, and standing out because of her unique touch and style, she is on the way to becoming one of East Africa’s iconic graphic artists.