KWETU KWANZA Telling our stories through contemporary African art and fashion.

‍“Kwetu Kwanza”- Swahili “To Us First” “Ours First”

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When I was invited by one of the designers who was showcasing his work at Kwetu Kwanza festival, I tried not to imagine what to expect. Out of curiosity I wanted to be part of this two-days event and break the chain of most of us ‘people like me who have never been to one’, the cliché experience, embed to us through television vogue shows where we think fashion industry as a materialistic world of extravagant, over-priced and unwearable clothes. Where anorexic, and yet extremely good looking humans sell you a product that they themselves probably don’t even like.

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To my relief, it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. Kwetu Kwanza was more than a fashion show. It was an amalgamation of talents from poetry to art to Ugandan hip-hop fusion. The scenes were extremely mind-capturing. Upon the entrance to the warehouse, a replica of a car welcomed me, a recycle of four-tyred artistry juxtaposed with iron bars, beautifully assembled in bark cloth from Mutuba tree. The grandeur of this welcoming note was a message enough to a snippet of what KwetuKwanza’s organizing team had in store for whoever planned to attend.

As a sombre Ekitontome intoned through the invisible speakers narrating the struggles of youths in our communities mostly pioneered by the government and the communal prejudice, I motioned through this meadow of creation.

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A table of recycled plastic accessories, a stall of art pieces patched on clothes, wristbands decorated with shells. These creations were fascinatingly impressive. The invisible speakers continued with the intonation of poetry so did I continue with discovery of pearls in this sea of creation. Most of the pieces showcased were in infused under the theme of environmental sustainability where most materials used were recycled or reused, And the rest of materials were environmental friendly. For-example Allen Nabukenya the founder of ‘NjolaImpressions’, her work takes inspiration through recycling of rubber to anything you could imagine. From robust boots made out of discarded car tubes, car tyres and flip-flops to Kifudu ‘tortoise’ street bags, words can hardly do justice to her artistic imagination.

I was awed by another piece created by IGC Fashion, a cloth made of dark Lubugo ‘bark tree’ hand stitched with cowrie shells with and embroidered with strips of with fine sisal. At first I was torn on how to describe this mastery of art between a kimono or yukata robe but there was something sedating about this piece by IGC Fashion. There was a lot behind this cloth, a culture inspired between the past and present, and how one would wish to define it on their own terms not through a European lens of judgement of fashion.

Everyone who saw this piece must have created their own definition of cab their curiosity of ‘what inspired’ this work. Just like the renowned Malian photographer Malick Sidibe’s “Nuit de Noel” I was in admiration with his cloth. The first time I came across Malick Sidibe’s photo of a couple dancing twist at the night of Christmas in Bamako, the couple’s motion with the rhyme of whatever was playing on the gramophone – the scene didn’t only stop on the two dancers but it captured a period of generational growth after liberation from French colonial rule in 1960. The IGC Fashion work invites artists, cultural producers, critics and writers at home and in the diaspora to share their thoughts about this work of art.

The festival had works of other numerous creators like Nakimuli crochet everywhere with a crocheted dressed aligned with glassed cowrie shells. Sanvraalso showcased a very fascinating work. The piece resembled a motionless voodoo priest or a dancing Marabout captured in a gesture of a pause his presence to be acknowledged. Another work that was extremely breath-taking was a piece tailored by the famous ‘Bobbin Case Clothing’ the pioneer of Boda-Boda madness concept which was first showcased in the slums of Kibera in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi. The concept really took-off where by his worked was showcased in different countries in Europe. Bobbin Case assembled clothes made of sisal inform of a robe and another of an ancient-like inspiration. It looked like a sisal Jalabiya of a female mystic in the pearl of Africa.

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The festival was more than just of a fashion show or poetry or art or music, it was more of a visual of societal changes and youth emancipation, cultural exportation to the lands beyond the boundaries of Uganda.

“The 2023 ‘Kwetu Kwanza festival’ was conducted at MoTIV, a makerspace found in the capital of Uganda, Kampala. A hub of creativity and this can easily be noticed upon the entrance to this Musal. Organized by Katende Godfrey ‘Blak’ Co-founder at IGC Fashion. Kwetu Kwanza is an annual culture and conference on environmental sustainability fashion.”