“The Afro Art Project” kickstarted your journey as a photographer, a project inspired by the need for more African representation in popular media. What has your determination to learn a new skill as a means to diversify media taught you about yourself? (It is very impressive)

Thank you! It’s interesting because I’ve never been able to commit to one form of expression. So throughout my life I’ve never been bound to any medium so overtime I’ve recognized I can do anything I set my mind to, which i was always told growing up but seeing my ability to do so has reaffirmed it.

​

Your artistic journey started with drawing and writing, and your photos certainly tell a story and emit emotion. Is there a storyline you construct in your head for every shoot?

If it’s something I’m creatively directing I always have a starting storyline in my head but it’s not necessarily what always comes to life. Which is beautiful, because the idea just evolves once we begin shooting or once I begin editing and the story I end with isn’t always the story I started with. Sometimes when I help s others with their projects, especially my friends, I create alternate storylines for myself while also delivering what they want.

 

Being from Uganda and moving to the United States, what is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt in terms of what is dominant in art/photography in both cultures?

I can’t really say. Art manifests it’s self differently depending on who’s behind it so I cannot say there is one thing that's dominant in both cultures. I think it’s just everyone’s desire to communicate something or create that remains the same. The results are always different.

​

Who is someone that inspires you right now that you’d like to direct Zoned readers attention to?

Sarfo Emmanuel Annor and Gabriel Moses. Their work is very different but I appreciate the way they both use very deep pallets and engage with cultural references