The Presence of Living Things

Circle Art Gallery is delighted to present a retrospective:

Theresa Musoke - The Presence of Living Things, (1963 - 2025) 

Exhibition opens in the presence of the artist on Thursday 24 April at 6pm

and runs until 5 June 2025

Theresa Musoke, Horns, 2010, mixed media on canvas, 96 x 127 cm

“I don’t know what i would do if I didn’t paint.”

Theresa Musoke is an artist through and through. In 1965, at the age of 21, Musoke became the first black woman artist in Kenya to receive a solo gallery exhibition. Sixty years later, and still true to her first sense of wonder, the landscapes and wildlife of East Africa continue to be an enduring source of inspiration for Musoke’s artistic practice. Spanning over six decades, hers is a sustained attention, a tender preoccupation with the natural world, its relations, meanings and further, an invitation for viewers to share in her wonderment.

Musoke’s hand is skillful and distinctive; rendering her drawings, paintings and prints in an atmospheric blend of sensitive draughtsmanship and painterly experimentation. Colour, value and form come together in intuitive and organic ways; trees and birds merge with the sky, antelope and wildebeest with the ground, birds become clouds. Equally stunning, are her figurative works, primarily self-portraits that offer us a brief and rare glimpse of the artist and her impressions and translations just as she sees herself.

Based in Kampala, Uganda, Musoke maintains an active studio life showing no signs of slowing down, requesting supplies with every visit from the gallery, new canvas, acrylic paints and medium. Alongside the paintings, prints and drawings, we are also please to display a selection of newspaper clippings from Musoke’s personal archive.

Theresa Musoke (b.1944) has been a highly influential figure in Kenyan and Ugandan art, not only known for her celebrated visual arts practice but also as a distinguished educator. She lived in Kenya for over twenty years, teaching at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University. Throughout this time, Musoke exhibited frequently in local galleries such as Paa Ya Paa, Gallery Watatu and the African Heritage House. Her selected solo and group exhibitions include a solo show at the Uganda Museum, 1965; Sanaa: Contemporary Art from East Africa, Commonwealth Institute, London, 1984; Pioneer Women of the Arts, Nairobi Gallery, 2018; A Retrospective of Three Artists: Theresa Musoke, Tabitha wa Thuku, Yony Waite, Circle Art Gallery, 2022. Her work featured in the travelling group show Mwili Akili Na Roho, at the Royal Academy, London and Haus Der Kunst, Munich. Select publications include African Artists, Phaidon (2022) Mwili, Akili na Roho, David Zwirner (2023) Theresa Musoke, Uhuru or Freedom, Art Education (1989). Musoke’s work is part of several collections including the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute, The African Arts Trust and the Sharjah Art Foundation.

Please ask Danda if you would like an online portfolio to preview the exhibition, this will be ready just before the opening.