By Patty Huston-Holm
On a not-even-a-bit overcast morning and with a student whistling “Jesus paid it all” from Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) nearby business incubation center, Joshua Kabitanya talks about the significance of stickers inside chewing gum wrappers, why a misshapen tree is more interesting than a symmetrical one and details of a mural project on the UCU Mukono campus.
Kabitanya is an artist. He modestly estimates 65% of the mural is his work.
Sitting at the base of the painting that covers a once-gray cylindrical water tank, Kabitanya’s all black attire and subdued demeanor contrast with the bold colors, messages and images of the mural. Just shy of his 32nd birthday, he admits his introversion with people and extroversion with his craft.
“I hear music, I sense nature, I feel God,” Kabitanya said of his artistic process.
On this late August day, the sunshine envelopes Kabitanya. When asked what he sees when looking around him, specifically which of two trees in front of the School of Business center he is most drawn to, he picks the misshapen, asymmetrical one.
“It’s the tree that isn’t uniform that’s interesting,” he said.
The mural, sandwiched between student dorms and up a hill from the library and Noll buildings, was the idea of American Mary Chowenhill, a UCU School of Business lecturer and missionary with the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS). She was supported by American Jack Klenk, a long-time UCU supporter and a member of the board for the UCU Partners NGO. Both had previously acquired Kabitanya’s works.
“This is more than just a painting,” Klenk said. “This project was about entrepreneurship, which is the point of the hub (also known as the idea incubator) next door. It’s about how something ugly can be beautiful. What was formerly a gray tank is now a beautiful piece of art.”
Kabitanya, who met Klenk at Eunice Guest House on the campus, was the mural’s lead artist with contributions from Alex Kitonsa, as well as a small portion by UCU Human Resources student, Ruth Ayiyo Ayinza. A couple of students added their hand prints. Being cognizant of the need for Christian infusion, artists were otherwise given free reign for the designs. None had done a mural before.
Components of the artistic story include:
- Six rays of light reflective of the work of God and people, omitting the seventh (day of rest);
- Colorful rendition of the UCU Bishop Tucker building;
- Alpha and Omega reminders that God remains from the beginning to the end of time;
- Keyboards modernizing the Old Testament stories of music from other instruments;
- Dancing as an expression of gratitude of the Lord; and
- African joy in mud-and-wattle huts surrounded by wildlife.
“Some have asked why we didn’t depict our culture in more modern terms,” Kabitanya said, explaining, “Even today, people are more joyful when they go home to visit where they were born.”
Home for Kabitanya is Mukono. He is one of nine children.
Kabitanya’s earliest recollection of others noticing his passion and talent for art was when he was in Primary 3. Chewing gum with stickers of sports stars was all the rage. He took to copying images from those stickers. Other children and teachers were watching.
“I became the one who teachers would ask to draw things on the board during lessons,” he recalled.
Kabitanya identifies himself as quiet and oftentimes distracted by normal conversation while being drawn to his own imagination about his surroundings – traits commonly described by artists. He meditates and creates.
“It’s how God made me,” he said.
While certain of a destiny to art, Kabitanya learned to “hustle” with other work, making bricks and collecting stones for cement to pay for some of his clothing and school needs. At age 24 and with a diploma in electrical engineering from Kyambogo University, he decided to get serious with his artistic passion. Things were moving along, albeit slowly, and then Covid hit.
The term “starving artist” became a reality.
That’s when Chowenhill, Klenk and the leadership at the UCU School of Business stepped in, helping Kabitanya with a business plan as is part of what the incubator does for any who enter the building. While Kabitanya isn’t a UCU alum, he is a member of the surrounding community that UCU serves.
“Everywhere you step, God gives you a lesson,” Kabitanya said.
With Uganda’s two-year lockdown, survival became even harder. For Kabitanya, he reminded himself of the message from Joshua 1:9 to “be strong and courageous” and to not “be frightened or dismayed for your Lord God is with you wherever you go.”
Portraits became more viable than other creations, but even the ability to produce those was minimal with Uganda’s government-ordered lockdown that lasted nearly two years. Kabitanya got his break with the UCU mural commissioning. Klenk, one of many UCU Eunice Guest House visitors Joshua sold paintings to over the years, echoed what other customers have said as follows: “He has the ability to see things other people don’t see.”
Klenk and others secured funding and pushed Joshua to the project.
Three months of eight-hour days yielded a mural unveiled in a May 24 ceremony. As of late August, the paint hadn’t faded.
Kabitanya is modest and humble about compliments, finding hope in many who believe in him, including God, who, the artist says, gets all the glory.
