Bark cloth has been manufactured and used by Ugandans for over 600 years and is a prominent Buganda symbol of history and culture. Bark cloth has the distinction of being named among the world’s collective heritage by UNESCO, recognizing its role as a strong cultural tradition for many Ugandans. This unique cloth of the Bugandan tribal culture and has been used as a canvas for artistic paintings, pounded into fabric and worn by Bugandan kings, or made into curtains or beddings. The unique process of changing bark into cloth begins with the removal of the outer bark of the Mutuba tree, exposing an under layer of moist, fleshy trunk. Horizontal and vertical cuts are made the length of the tree allowing and an angled banana stalk to be used to peel away the inner bark. Once the bark is removed from the tree, banana leaves are cut and wrapped around the exposed trunk, keeping it moist and allowing the bark to grow back within a year. Watch this video to see artist Gerrald Kabuye demonstrate how he paints his traditional bark cloth artwork. The next step in the process of creating bark cloth is to deepen the rust color of the bark by placing dried banana leaves on top of it and setting them on fire. After carefully brushing off the ashes, the bark cloth is washed and wrapped in fresh banana leaves to keep it moist overnight. The next day, the bark is stretched out on a thin log and is continually pounded using a grooved mallet, called a nsaamu. Every surface of the bark is pounded, turning it and folding it. Each carefully placed hit leaves its grooved impression on the surface of the bark and slowly widens the bark and softens it into cloth. After the bark cloth has been pounded to the specified softness and thickness it is laid in the sun to be dried by the sun. Artist Gerrald Kabuye uses bark cloth that has been created through this traditional process as a canvas to paint his depictions of Uganda culture, history, people, customs, and wildlife. Though he does use other colors as well, Gerrald prefers to paint most of his bark cloth art in shades of orange, black and white. Gerrald prefers using these colors because he says that these bring out and compliment best the natural tones of the bark cloth. Often Gerrald uses curved lines and alternating patterns of color to represent such themes as movement, unity, or rhythm. He also creates many of his portraits to show traditional Ugandan villagers and scenes from village life as well as women of Bugandan royalty. To browse a catalogue of unique paintings on traditional bark cloth created by artist Gerrald Kabuye of the Buganda tribal culture from Uganda, click on the icon below. |
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| Catalogue of Bark Cloth Paintings by Gerrald Kabuye | |
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