Sanaa Gateja
Sanaa Gateja (b. 1950, Kisoro, Uganda) makes intricate works from post-consumer paper that he rolls into beads, sewing them onto bark cloth supports in tapestry-like assemblages. Up close, the beads offer glimpses, between folds, of their past lives—as vintage posters, pages from wig sales pamphlets, and outdated textbooks, among other things. His distinctive method requires the involvement of members of his community, whom he has trained and employed since the early 1990s. Gateja envisions artists as agents for social, political, and environmental transformation, and art-making as an act of ecological and spiritual repair. Disrupting conventional distinctions between figuration and abstraction, and two-dimensional work and sculpture, the resulting swirling, mosaic-like pieces instead draw affective connections between people and their surroundings. Gateja lives in Kampala, Uganda.
Gateja had his first American solo exhibition at Karma in 2023 and was included in the Carnegie International (2022). His works are held in museums and private collections worldwide including the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh; de Young Museum, San Francisco; Field Museum, Chicago; National Scottish Museum, Edinburgh; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He has exhibited at institutions and fairs including ARCOlisboa; Cape Town Art Fair; FNB Art Joburg, Johannesburg; Art Paris; AKAA Paris; Themes & Variations, London; and the Museum of Art and Design, New York.
Gateja represented the Ugandan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024.
Born 1950, Kisoro, Uganda
Lives in Kampala, Uganda
EDUCATION
Rhodec International Collage of Interior Design, Brighton, UK
International University of Art and Design, Florence, Italy
Tomazo Hashimoto Jewellery Studio, Florence, Italy
Camden Art Centre, London, UK
City of London Collage of Art and Design, London, UK
National Institute of Gemmology, Madagascar
SELECTED SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024
Karma, Los Angeles, NOURISHMENT
2023
Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, Sanaa Gateja: Selected Works
Karma, New York, Rolled Secrets
2022
Afriart Gallery, Kampala, Uganda, Radical Care
2020
Afriart Gallery, Kampala, Uganda, Playing to the Gallery
2012
French Cultural Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
KLA Art, Kampala, Uganda
2011
Diani Beach Hotel Gallery, Mombasa, Kenya
2010
MAD Museum of Art and Design, New York
2009
Baraka Gallery, Lamu, Kenya
2008
AfriArt Gallery, Kampala, Uganda
Baraka Gallery, Lamu, Kenya
2007
UNESCO Launches Backcloth as heritage. Solo artist NT KLA
Tulifanya Gallery, Kampala, Uganda
Baraka Gallery, Lamu, Kenya
TED Conference, Arucha Ngorodoto Lodge, Tanzania
2006
2005
Inganzo Art Gallery, Kigali, Rwanda
Novotel, Kigali, Rwanda
2004
Novotel, Kigali, Rwanda
Uganda National Museum, Kampala, Uganda
2003
Uganda National Museum, Kampala, Uganda
2002
Uganda National Museum, Kampala, Uganda
1999
Tulifanya Gallery, Kampala, Uganda
1998
Tulifanya Gallery, Kampala, Uganda
1996
Tulifanya Gallery, Kampala, Uganda
1994
Tulifanya Gallery, Kampala, Uganda
1993
Tulifanya Gallery, Kampala, Uganda
Ludwig Beck, Munich, Germany
1992
Ludwig Beck, Munich, Germany
1991
Nomo Gallery, National Art Gallery, Kampala, Uganda
Ludwig Beck, Munich, Germany
1990
Kenya National Museum, Nairobi, Kenya, with Kamal Shah
Innovations in Art, The National Cultural Center, Kampala, Uganda
1987
Residency, The Commonwealth Institute, UK
1980
Rowland Ward Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya
African Heritage Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
70 Main Street, Thomaston, Maine, A Particular Kind of Heaven
2023
Bemis Center For Contemporary Arts, Omaha, Nebraska, Neo-Custodians: Woven Narratives of Heritage, Cultural Memory, and Belonging, curated by Nneoma Ilogu
2022
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Is it morning for you yet?, The 58th Carnegie International
2019
Afriart Gallery, Uganda, Playing to the Gallery
2018
Hogan Lovells, London, No Room For Fear, co-curated by SMO Contemporary Art and the Black British Female Artists Collective (BBFA)
2012
KLA Art, Kampala
2010
Museum of Art and Design, New York
2006
Murumbi Gallery, Kenya National Archive, Nairobi, Kenya
The Design Collage, Eindhoven, Netherlands
1996
Danish Chamber of Commerce, Copenhagen, Denmark
1990
Berlin International Trade Fair, Berlin, Germany
1986
The Round House Camden, London, UK
The Africa Centre Covent Garden, London, UK
1985
Royal Festival Hall, London, UK
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth Institute, London
Field Museum, Chicago
Fondation H, Paris
The Genocide Museum, Kigali, Rwanda
National Scottish Museum, Edinburgh
The Tropical Museum, Amsterdam
Uganda Museum collection, Kampala, Uganda
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
RESIDENCIES
1996
Namasagali Art Workshop by the British Council, England
1987-89
The Commonwealth Institute London, London, UK
1986
Deveron Arts, Huntly, Scotland
SELECTED WORK EXPERIENCE
1990
Founder, Kwetu Africa Art and Design Development Centre, Uganda
1986-89
Opened SAFARI STUDIOS, Silver and Goldsmith Workshop Studio, St. John Street, Islington, London
1972-78
Founder, Sanaa Gallery: The 1st Art Gallery in Mombasa, Kenya
1970
Manager, Uganda Crafts Pavilion Expo 70 for the Ministry of Culture and Community Development, Osaka Japan
1968-70
Assistant Crafts Officer, Ministry of Culture and Community Development, Uganda
