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Uganda: Art - Crazy About Weaving
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The Weekly Observer (Kampala)
16 July 2008
Posted to the web 17 July 2008
John Vianney Nsimbe
When asked to describe herself in relation to her art, Rosie Atuhaire, 25, replies, "I am crazy about weaving, even my family knows it."
This might sound strange considering that her parents weren't actually screaming hooray when she decided to take that line of duty.
The folks' point of view like many other parents in Uganda was that art didn't fetch enough dime. They wanted her to pursue a Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA) and work in a bank.
But that is water under the bridge now. Her parents are in the blue corner cheering her on as she grows as an artist.
She is selling big and getting famous through her distinct brand of weaving. It is rare visual art and difficult to do but that is what lifts her and gets her adrenaline boiling. Not even love does that to her.
She laughs, saying: "I thought most artists were into drawing and painting. I would easily have been lost in the crowd but now I'm more conspicuous; even you have noticed."
Atuhaire weaves carpets, rugs, doormats, wall hangings and curtains from T-shirt scrap, cloth off-cuts from factories like Phenix logistics and wool from Kenya.
"It is a hard and long process but very fulfilling. I create much of the designs and I draw on the materials things that are mostly influenced by Uganda's heritage and culture," she said.
She explained that since she is from the west, she borrows much of her drawings from the west like the long-horned cattle and the dressing.
The central element of Atuhaire's art is that she has the attitude of an enforcer. She goes full throttle for what she wants to be.
"I want to be the icon in carpets, curtains and rugs; what Sylvia Owori is in fashion." Not that she is far from being another fashion 'guru'. Atuhaire makes jewellery which is exquisite yet reasonably priced. She wears some of it and how pretty she looks with it!
Much of this inspiration she says is from her parents.
"They've backed me all the way since they realized how fast I was moving in my passion." But more of her absolute resolute is from a South African soap she used to ardently watch - Generations. She was moved by the determined attitude 'Achie Moroka' used to present and she liked him to a point that she calls herself Rosie Achie as the professional name she signs on her products.
"He was unwavering in running his business and I loved that mentality," says Atuhaire.
Atuhaire now teaches children painting from her studio in Bugolobi for $100 every twenty hours in a program called 'paint a child'.
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She also does water colour painting, but it is weaving that is her true love.
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