07 | 2024 Nakivale YTC Artist News
Original Art SOLD!, Artist Videos, Storybooks, Family Portrait & New Refugees
Welcome to the second installment of Nakivale Young Talent Community (NYTC) Artist News. The series is a “month-in-the-life” of a refugee artist collective called “Nakivale Young Talent Community” in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. This and related content is located on the Refugee Artist Support Circle section of The Creative Convergence.
Did you miss our first installment! Check out the June NYTC post here!
Subscribe specifically to this section for free (click here to go to your settings for subscribing to The Creative Convergence to toggle on or off subscribing to the the Support Circle). As a subscriber you receive monthly digests full of stories, art, videos and pictures featuring the struggles and successes of 15 talented emerging young refugee artists living in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. Upgrade to paid and you can become part of the Refugee Support Circle; 100% of your $8 monthly subscription goes directly to NYTC to support their material costs. Plus you receive artful perks! Learn more more about that here.
“Beauty of Africa” Sold to Ubuntu International
Mansur Kajib Kabera, 18-year old Congolese refugee and one of NYTC’s art facilitator/trainers, sold his painting titled “The Beauty of Africa” in July!
It was great cause for celebration. The painting has inspired so many: the artists themselves, the audience at the June 2024 Online Art Expo, me, and Antoinette Rootsdawtah of Ubuntu International who ultimately purchased the piece. The artwork will be proudly displayed on all Ubuntu team member tshirts.
Before the art piece was shipped to the United States, the artists got together to share the inspiration and the love for this piece.
Tshirts and canvasses with the image can be purchased here on my Etsy store: RainMaker Design. 100% of profits ($20 per shirt or canvas) go to Mansur directly and the NYTC collective.
Nakivale Artists Are On YouTube!
A playlist of videos profiling each artist and their World Refugee Day art pieces is up on the RainMaker Design YouTube channel
Almost every one of the artists that produced work for the June 20th World Refugee Day celebration outside of Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda was able to present their artwork in front of the camera. A playlist of those videos can be found here on my YouTube Channel. (The list is not complete, but will be rounded out soon with videos once the audio is polished to remove background noise).
The artists have established a relationship with videographer DR Lee, a Congolese refugee in the Settlement who provides videography, editing, and photography services. More on him later! He is a behind-the-scenes resource that we rely on to make sure we get high quality images and videos of the artists, their work, and the expos we organize!
Artists Visit New Refugees
This week some of the artist faciliators visited Kabazana. Every week, new refugees are arriving to the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. Many if not most are from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where a decades-long war rages. Over 6 million have been killed, 7 million internally displaced and 1 million are refugees living in settlements and camps outside of the DRC in Kenya and Uganda or elsewhere around the world.
We went for a visit and to refresh our minds and so that artists could get more ideas because they draw what they see. But, actually we find people in that community are suffering. Mostly children. Many children told us they want to start learning art but there is no where they can learn art and there are no facilitators. My heart was broken actually. - Akon Deograce.
To help the children get their minds off the trauma of fleeing war and conflict, they dance, sang, and played with the children. Many enjoyed looking at pictures of art on Akon’s phone (see picture below, bottom right).
Many if not all of the NYTC artists have experienced their own traumatic deparure from their homelands. This visit which included one particulary traumatic event where a young mother collapsed and died from a bullet wound during the visit resurfaced pain and grief for the artists. Many of them left family members behind or lost them to violence. Some were witnesses to that violence. While art is an incredibly therapeutic modality, mental health support and counseling is critical but unavailable to most living in the Settlement.
Storytelling & Illustration
While the artists wait to raise more funds for paint (their preferred medium is acrylic paint) and canvasses, they have been using the watercolor paints and paper funded by the June 1st art expo ticket sales and a donation from California-based nonprofit Stand Up for Justice.
Javan Musafiri and Nathalic Sindano are shown here working on their illustration. The storylines are being written by the artists in tandem and individually. Their plan is to produce a collection of inspiring refugee stories to publish and share with children in Nakivale as well as worldwide.
Portrait Practice Makes Perfect
Weekly, from Monday through Saturday, from 9 am to 4 pm, the artists are teaching art to children ages 5 to 18. When the children leave, that’s when the artists get their own practice in. For more portraits produced by NYTC, visit the Non-Stop Nakivale Arts post, a post that will feature all Nakivale art!
Sketchbooks for Students!
In late July, NYTC received a $100 donation from Smart International to create sketchbooks for primary students. I sent additional funds so they could purchase pencils and erasers.
July Fashion Show
Did you know that NYTC sponsors fashion shows? In June, they hosted in the center of the community a large fashion show for youth and young adults. Fashion shows are incredibly popular in the Settlement and are seen as an opportunity to bring together people from different countries. The Settlement is home to over 170,000 refugees from 13 countries and organized into dozens of villages. Fashion shows like the one organized by NYTC and faciliated by Akon Deograce (who has experience as a model) have a positive impact on community relations. For a glimpse of Settlement fashion shows, check out this video from May 2024 organized by Akon.
In July they hosted a fashion show for children at one of the local primary schools. Akon Deograce, Founder of NYTC, who is only 22-years old, missed his childhood always on the run from violence. He tries to recapture his youth on a regular basis by spending time organizing activities and games with young children.
Thank you for reading the July monthly installment of NYTC Art News!
Up next in August, the opening of the new Arts Education Center! And, plans for a late September Art Expo.
If you prefer to support with a one-time donation, add your tip to the Nakivale Tip Jar here! Managed by me, Emily, of The Creative Convergence. Every penny helps. Funds pooled for the NYTC collective and arts program purchase paints, brushes, paper, canvasses, and fund a food program for the children that attend free art education Monday through Saturday year-round.
 | A guest post by
|