Andrea Stultiens

 

Deo Kyakulagira (1940-2000) was a photographer. He lived in Uganda, worked for various governmental institutions and owned his own studio. I am trying to familiarize myself with Deo and his times through the part of his work that is still with his family. This image is of course not Deo, but an ‘in profile’ photo of a sculpture made by Andrew Kabanda Billy. It is based on a set of portraits and self-portraits of and by Deo. Billy has a small shack/studio along the main road from Entebbe to Kampala. Passing the place I was attracted by the displayed sculptures outside and walked in. There I saw a bust of the Ugandan president that seemed to have a striking resemblance. Billy showed me how he works: from photos. When I commissioned Deo’s portrait, Billy asked me which age he should be. I told him that was up to him; he should make the bust he wanted to make as an artist. He then made three: one as an old(er) man, one with a specific gaze shown in two photographs (almost a decisive moment in 3D), and the more or less neutral one in this photo. One of Deo’s daughters, who lives abroad and saw my posts sharing the whole process on Facebook, identified this sculpture, this view of it, as the best resemblance. I am slowly getting to know Deo better bit by bit.