Pacy, who is based in the Burundian city of Bujumbura, executed this painting in 2025 as one of 20 to be exhibited for his one-man show – “Within & Without: Painting Burundi” – at Kampala’s Weganda Gallery. The collector loved this picture the first time he saw it first and foremost because it recalled a typical scene in the Kampala neighbourhood of his childhood: kids chasing a football in the dust while they still have time to do so – before it starts to rain, as it were. Yet there is much more to admire in this cityscape that is as fine as a Maurice Utrillo. If Pacy did not set out to capture the peculiar quaintness of Bujumbura, as Utrillo captured the Paris of his time, then Pacy deserves even more credit for creating a picture that crystallizes the strange spirit of his city.
