This piece, acquired directly from the Kakinda family, is special in the artist’s oeuvre because of the splash of yellow, a color that almost never dominated his palette. The immediate impact is to create an atmosphere verging on paradise as a couple of dancers in cultural dress shake their hips to the sound of drums. Kakinda, for many years a professor of art at Makerere University, died young at 58. A beloved figure in the local arts community, he was a founding member of the Uganda Art Consortium. Kakinda’s striking imagery often revolved around abstracting the human form, and he drew inspiration from the work of ancient cave painters, especially in Egypt, who used the human figure and its surroundings to extract spiritual essence and identity. Kakinda’s work is held in important collections at home and abroad, including at Makerere University and the Qatar-based ARAK Collection.
