Ruganzu restores hope through eco art

Art represents not just the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. The two-fold meaning of Greek philosopher Aristotle’s statement comes to life as you watch physically handicapped children concentrate as they hold painting brushes and add colour to different items in the playground.

Three girls, with almost no hands, are the centre of attraction. With hands only inches long, they struggle albeit happily, to paint. As they do so, their peers are out on the swings, slides, tyres having a time of their lives.

Under a tree shade, within the space, are artists looking on, happy that their efforts and inner passions are the reason for the joy from the innocent souls. The brainchild of the project, Bruno Ruganzu, explains that the project at Kampala School of the Physically Handicapped (KSPH) began after he participated in the Visible Awards which are awarded to people who do art in a unique way.
He was first runner-up. The project idea that earned him second place was one about creating spaces for children to play. Despite not winning the award, Ruganzu’s idea touched viewers.

Top two
Matteo and Judith Lucchetti, organisers of Visible Awards contacted Ruganzu saying the Zegna foundation (Fondazione Zegna), Italy had liked his work. “They liked that I was working with children so they donated to me Euros5,000 (approx. Shs20m). I wanted to make the best of it,” he recalls. Ruganzu used the funds to build a play area for the physically handicapped children.

In an email, Matteo Lucchetti explains that they believe that Ruganzu, through the project Ecoart Uganda, is showing a kind of art centred on the role of the artist as someone that embraces the common good rather than the good for him/herself.

“It is an exemplary approach that positions him and his work among those practices, on a global scale, that have decided to engage themselves with society and its many issues. From the singularity and peculiarity of building playgrounds for disadvantaged children in Uganda and elsewhere, springs the potential of a model that can be replicated and scaled down or up to other contexts,” Lucchetti observes.

He adds, “In fact, Ecoart Uganda is not so much about the final forms that the parks take, but rather on who is in charge of shaping those playgrounds. And, how the long process that leads to the realisation of the park is a path to empowerment for the future communities that will be responsible of the public domain and its future scenarios.”

How Ecoart was nominated
When the project made the 2015 Visible Award shortlist, organisers understood that the way Ruganzu was tackling environmental issues was innovative in the way in which he chose participation and collaboration as the methodologies through which his artistic practice unfolds.

Ruganzu is an artist but also a citizen, and in his work it is clear and relevant to see how these two roles coexist and expand the meaning of each other on a daily basis.

Curator Robinah Nansubuga nominated Ecoart Uganda for the Visible Awards. “I nominated the project ‘on the basis of it being a community art project that I believe encourages the use of artistic activities to support development and improves the quality of life in these communities,” she explains. Ecoart Uganda is an environmental awareness art platform that goes beyond activism to create positive social change within communities by turning waste (garbage) into useful things.

What makes it outstanding
One of the exciting items in the playing space is a wooded-out box matatu fitted with rubber tyres in which youngsters sit and steer a rubber wheel and enjoy rotating it.

The others are beautifully painted car tyres on which they can sit or slide down. There are metallic slides on which they take turns to enjoy, and more. All these are creatively enhanced with coloured waste plastics.

Nansubuga observes that the power in the project is the collaboration of creative talent and unscripted conversations to penetrate the misconceptions often impressed upon audiences on perception of art being a luxury. “Ecoart Uganda possesses a desire to strengthen communities and Bruno’s individual artistic vision and expectations have merged with those of the community. It deserved its place in the visible awards,” Nansubuga explains.

Putting ideas together
Some of the artists collaborating on the project which involves putting up an all-inclusive playground, include Innocent Baguma, Stacey Gillian Abe, Rolands Tibirusya, Sheila Nakitende, Simon Eroku, a deaf artist, Patrick Baguma and Alex Kwizera. When they were starting out on the project, they worked with the children to bring out their ideas through drawn inspirational sketches.

“We asked children to draw what excited them. We would go to classes. Each artist had two to five children to mentor about ideas. We wanted to get the best out of each child,” Ruganzu explains. Most of the artists had done community projects, and they believed that every child has unique abilities despite being handicapped.

Ksph is one of the oldest schools in Uganda for children with cerebral palsy and other physical challenges. Ruganzu argues that artists ought to be a mirror of their society.

Inspiration
Ruganzu’s special connection with children has something to do with his background. As a child he was orphaned and through his art, he commits to creating environments which support healthy childhoods. His first beneficiary was to be a school in the Acholi quarters in Kireka,Kampala but the school administration sadly had to let the opportunity pass because the land on which the school is situated is under dispute.

Power of artistic collaborations
Ruganzu shared the idea with a like-minded artist Tibirusya. Tibirusya has previously done community outreach art projects as a volunteer art teacher.
On the current project, he is motivated by innocent expression of the disabled children, seeing them grow from good to great. He gives credit to Ruganzu, Kwizera and other arts practitioners for ideas that draw artists together for a good cause.

“The highlight has been how collaborative art has been an avenue to interact and open us up to create more, paint, recycle and respond to our environment. So these children have gained confidence to continue doing art even after school because a practising artist shared art with them. I find it very exciting that art has been a defining force in the eyes of the children and the artists,” Tibirusya observes.

Ruganzu has won the confidence of more peers. Nakitende says working with him and others on the project is very inspiring and rewarding. “The motivation to work on art that impacts communities and children comes from my fascination with sharing my skills and creating lasting impressions of art that go beyond drawings and paintings,” she explains.

She argues that if, as artists, they impact children positively, it will extend a foundation for art for the future. She describes Ruganzu as an amazing soul who is not only hardworking but loves to share. To her, that is his greatest strength.

Innocent Baguma also collaborated on the project and observes that such collaborations are very exciting, especially if they are pursuing a common cause, and in this case one of helping and giving a hand to the handicapped children.

“The other inspiration is the trend Bruno has set for every artist, to create art pieces that are interactive and at the same time benefiting everybody in the community,” Baguma observes.

Simon Eroku is a deaf but a richly creative artist who is collaborating on the project. It is the second time he is collaborating on an artistic project with Ruganzu. The first time was when they were building an Ecoart Amusement park in the Acholi Quarters three years back.

“Bruno is my former lecturer and he is very inspirational. He motivated me and that has helped me gain momentum in the arts industry. He inspired me to explore more about art for conservation. I am someone with a passion for a healthy environment so being part of the Ecoart family is a worthy cause,” Eroku explains.

He appreciates working with a network of like-minded artists, and adds that despite his disability, fellow artists get to understand him. Being deaf has not deterred them from working with him because art itself is a language on its own so there is neither a barrier nor discrimination. Eroku adds. “Bruno for one has proved to me that there are many artists out there who can make inclusion possible.”

Other projects
Putting together a team to realise space for children is also part of Ruganzu’s dissertation to fulfil a scholarship programme he is pursuing at the University of Oslo.

“I shared with my professor Jan Stålhane and they were excited and gave me ideas on how I could make the project more inclusive. That is how I brought on board more artists and children. I write to him every week and share photographs of our progress,” explains the artist.
In an interview, Professor Stålhane says he finds Ruganzu as a very nice person and an intellectually very stimulating person to work with let alone tutor.

“I think we have a lot to learn from his way of thinking- often very different from what we are used to in Northern Europe. I really look forward to working with him again in august in Norway and I wish him all the luck with his project in Uganda,” Professor Stålhane adds.

Beyond his passion, more opportunities
Working beyond borders has opened Ruganzu to more than art. He also enjoys culinary adventures and learning dances from elsewhere. One of such opportunities was when he was selected as an environmental artist in residence at the McColl Centre of Art and Innovation, in Charlotte, USA. There, he was commissioned to build an art project.

“When I was nominated, I decided to Skype with the people who had contacted me for the opportunity. I stood under a street light and I was before a group of serious people on a panel, somewhere in a boardroom. They had selected me because of my portfolio and recommendations from different people I have made artistic collaborations with,” he explains.

He was initially invited for two weeks to tour the place and sign a memorandum of understand (MoU) before he returned for six months to work on the project.
“I built two playgrounds. Art was a unifier and mitigate environment and people. In an era of internet and technology, children are no longer going out to play in the grass or under trees,” he recounts.

He also created a sculptural play element that would respond to environmental changes and also mitigate runoff at the art and ecology campus at Brightwalk, further bringing out his commitment to social engagement through art.

Environment has a special place in his heart. As a child growing up in Kabale District, he recalls that the community had a special connection with nature.
“If you fell down, someone knew which plant to pluck to squeeze and apply on a wound. In Kampala, there is little consideration of nature. Nature is moving from the city. I had to come and leave a footprint and inspire a generation. My art makes people think differently. I use plastics to make decoration. It looks like painted plastic,” he explains.

Awards
2013 Earth Hour Innovator Award, WWF
2012 TEDPrize: City 2.0, TED, Doha, Qatar
Planet Women: Photography, Uganda
Plasticity Challenge, Rio+20, Brazil
2011 Young Achiever’s Award for Art, Fashion, & Culture, Uganda
2010 Student of the Year, Art & Industrial Design, Kyambogo University, Uganda.

Quick notes
Bruno Ruganzu is a graduate, with a bachelor of Industrial Art & Design. He has achieved variously as an artist. He built a ‘Recycled Amusement Park’ TED City2.0, Kampala in 2012
Installed Katara Cultural Heritage Centre, Doha, Qatar
Has variously participated in Laba! Street Art Festival
2014 Recycled Bead Making, McColl Center for Art+Innovation, Charlotte, NC USA
Participated in 2013 ‘Am the Change in My City, World Social Forum’, in Porto Alegre, Brazil
Recycling Workshop, World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil
2012 Impact of Art & Architecture in Developing Cities, EU-UNESCO TEDx Invited Speaker, TEDx, Lemek Conservancy, Masai Mara, Kenya
2014 ArtPlace America Environmental Artist Residency, McColl Center for Art+Innovation, Charlotte, NC
Visiting Environmental Artist, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC USA
2011-current Lecturer, Department of Art & Industrial Design, Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda
2012-2013 Sculpture, Painting, & Landscaping Design, Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda
2012 Uganda Vocational Qualifications Framework Facilitator: Training Modules/Development
2005-2007 Head of Department of Art, Kisoro Comprehensive Secondary School, Kisoro, Uganda