The first Mzili in the Roduza Collection, this piece used to have pride of place in the artist’s living room. It was executed in 2012, when Mzili was trying to find pictorial possibilities in abstraction, and acquired directly from him in 2026. These days Mzili is known better for his colorful figurative work, but in those days there was a poignant ambiguity in his image-making. Mzili, who in recent years has become a master in his own right, recently celebrated 25 years of his acclaimed practice. A co-founder of Kampala Arts Trust and Start Journal, he is also a founding member of Index Mashariki, an art group in East Africa that aims to re-energize the art scene with an infusion of what Mzili has described as indigenous expressionism. Mzili’s work has been widely exhibited in shows at home and fairs abroad.
