Gulu’s Calvin Onen was born an artist

Calvin Onen poses with some of his art pieces. He never studied art as a subject but he takes it as his career. PHOTO by Julius Ocungi

What you need to know:

Natural. Despite dropping out of school in Senior Two, Onen makes a living from a fied he never studied at school.

At the back of his grass thatched hut, in Aywee village, Pece division in Gulu Municipality, Calvin Onen alias Muzungu makes final touches to his drawing depicting an African woman carrying a water pot.
Born to Ms Lea Akello and Mr Shafig Konde in 1991, the last born in the family of four did not stay long with his parents as they both passed away when he was barely four years. By the age of seven, Onen was a street child. “When my parents passed on, life became difficult and I took shelter in abandoned cars in Mengo and Kisenyi. I roamed the streets of Kampala, where I earned a living through paintings of President Museveni, the former vice President, Speciosa Kazibwe and other high profile people at the time,” Onen recounts.
Without being taught any skill in painting, his talent grew.
“I used to make drawings on cardboards trying to relay to people what I was going through and passersby would sometimes drop me coins. This saw me through school up to Senior Two.”
After Senior Two, he could not afford school fees any more, thereby dropping out of school.
Today, as majority of the youth are busy hunting for jobs, Onen is earning modestly through drawing art pieces from his home in Gulu.
On how he learnt to paint without formal training in the subject, Onen says: “Art is a natural gift. You are born with it. You just need to polish your skills with some few observations. I only stopped in Senior Two but right from childhood, art has been my passion.”
Onen, who defines his style of art as reality and abstract, says he has taken arts as a career to help in communicating about things happening in the society and showing the beauty of Africa.
He gets market for his products mostly within hangout places like bars, pubs and hotels like Sankofa Café, the Coffee Hut café, Taks Centre and BJs, NGOs and through some individuals.
However, he says people within the region have generally failed to appreciate the value of art.
“People always want to buy the art pieces at Shs10, 000. They tell me it is not a hard thing to draw and it does not take very long,” Onen laments.
He said it is the same reason why art have failed to grow in the district. Artists thus fear engaging in it as a career.

Future plans
Onen plans to open a foundation that will help orphans and street children learn through arts.
Apart from drawing and painting, Onen is also an upcoming artiste in Gulu, who has been using his songs to create awareness about gender-based violence and HIV/Aids. His latest single, Silim Neko Dano, meaning Aids kills, is being used to senstise youth about HIV/Aids. He advises the youths to work hard and never to give up on their talents but instead treat them as gifts from God.

THE numbers

75,000
The cost price in shillings a painting on Onen’s biggest frame costs.

200,000
Average amount in shillings Onen earns from his paintings in a week.

776,000
Highest amount in shillings. Onen has earned from a single art piece.