Uganda: Americans Mesmerised As Ugandans Demonstrate Artistry in the Making of Barkcloth

2 July 2022
The Observer (Kampala)
By Frank Kisakye

The world's largest museum, education, and research complex, the Smithsonian Institution in the US is this year, hosting Aloyzius Luwemba, a tenth-generation barkcloth maker from Bukomansimbi, Masaka. Founded in 1846, it has 21 museums and is also host to the US National Zoo.

Every year, the two-week Smithsonian Folklife festival, in a cultural exchange program, selects and brings together master artisans and other tradition bearers from within the USA and around the world. This year, Luwemba got the opportunity to showcase the artistry in the making of the barkcloth also locally known as lubugo and the rich heritage of the eco-friendly fabric.

According to the press release, Luwemba was accompanied by Fulbright scholar and artist, Dr Fred Mutebi, who educates about the lubugo's special attributes in sustainability, eco-friendliness and the green economy and Lesli Robertson, the proprietor of Around the World in 80 fabrics.

Uganda, Kenya and Mongolia are sharing a tent in a section called "Earth Optimism" which is a Smithsonian movement that focuses on changing the narrative from doom-and-gloom to hope, inspiring action and mobilizing a global community and Conservation as a theme.

Visitors and the media were mesmerized as Luwemba demonstrated the process of making of the barkcloth. First, he pounds and moisturizes the pre-boiled bark, demonstrating how one strip eventually turns into yards of the earthy terracotta-coloured textile.

Children were given the chance to weigh the wooden mallets and try their hands at the pounding. They loved the dull sound that it makes and giggled when drops of moisture landed on their faces. Others were offered small pieces of barkcloth to practice painting on canvas

Diana Baird N'Diyaye the curator of the festival and a veteran with over 42 years in the business did not literally leave the Uganda stall all afternoon, carefully observing how the fabric is made.

"More important than promoting the heritage, is the preservation of the artisans who do the actual production and ensuring that their expertise does not die out," she told the Ugandan Margaret Kafeero, Uganda's public diplomacy officer at the Ugandan Embassy in Washington, DC.

Lucy, a retired American foreign service officer who worked in Uganda twice and has followed the barkcloth and basket weaving processes since 1995, says it always amazes her that the textiles were stigmatized among Ugandans themselves as only being used for the dead and for mystic rituals.

The Smithsonian Folklife festival ends on Monday, July 4.

Visitors at the Smithsonian Folklife festival, US, mesmerized as Aloyzius Luwemba, a 10th generation #barkcloth maker from Masaka demonstrates the making of the eco-friendly fabric aka lubugo. In Uganda lubugo is stigmatized as a cheap fabric used by the poor to bury their dead pic.twitter.com/20LKp90xrz

-- The Observer (@observerug) July 2, 2022

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