Wilson Lukenge, who died in 2025, was a gifted modernist of Uganda who sought to break away from familiar visual languages. Educated in the 1960s at Makerere University’s Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts, he later taught art at high schools such as Makerere College School and Ntare School. According to the artist Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi, a friend and long-time collaborator, Lukenge’s abstract work often expresses “love, romance, camaraderie, traditional activities and cultural symbols.” This piece, which depicts a bird watching over a pair of musicians, elevates the picture almost to the status of religious art. Much of Lukenge’s work is touched with genius, even though he died with a reputation that was not equal to his talent. Still, his work is held in collections by the (former) Uganda Commercial Bank, the art gallery at Makerere University, Uganda House in New York City, and others.
