Heart of the Yields celebrates heritage and African women

What the report says

The Independent Uganda reports that artist Muwonge Kyazze Mathias is exhibiting a new body of work, Heart of the Yields, at Umoja Art Gallery in Bukoto, Kampala. The show is presented as a reflection on heritage, food security, co-existence with nature and the role of African women, with a particular cultural emphasis on Buganda.

According to the article, Kyazze draws on his long experience with stained glass, as well as his background as an art academic and cultural conservationist, to shape paintings that use banana fruit, vegetation and traditional objects such as mats, drums and huts as recurring symbols. The works combine surrealist figures with luminous green, yellow and blue tones, creating imagery that links nourishment, memory and custodianship.

The publication highlights several paintings in the exhibition, including mural-sized canvases that depict women preparing matooke, harvesting bananas and performing household tasks. In the article’s reading, these scenes position women as central to food production, family survival and cultural continuity, while also linking the banana to both livelihood and heritage.

The Independent says the exhibition is on view now at Umoja Art Gallery on Mukalazi Road behind Princess Kevina Apartments. Beyond the immediate show, the piece places the exhibition in a wider conversation about preserving cultural identity and responding to contemporary concerns around food and community resilience.