Godfrey Banadda is one of Uganda’s most respected modern artists and art intellectuals. A proud graduate of the Margaret Trowell School of Fine Art at Makerere University, he earned both his First Class BA in Fine Art and his Master of Arts in Fine Art (MAFA) there, later pursuing PhD research on traditional beliefs — a philosophical thread that continues to pulse through his work.

Banadda’s life and art are inseparable from Makerere University, where he has taught since 1995. As a painter, he is celebrated for his mastery of abstraction, his deft balance between figure and form, and his reputation as a true colourist — an artist whose brush seems to think as much as it moves.

His work has travelled widely, appearing in major international exhibitions. A defining moment arrived in 1995, when his painting The Last Hope was selected for the landmark exhibition Seven Stories of Modern Art in Africa at London’s Whitechapel Gallery. Today, Banadda remains a powerful presence in the East African art world, recognised as a second-generation modern master whose influence continues to shape Uganda’s artistic landscape.

Artwork

The King

From Buganda’s earliest rulers, leadership operated as a pyramid: the king at the summit, authority delegated downward through layers of regional chiefs. A visual line connects the crown on the king’s head to a distant crowned structure — echoing the royal tomb of Muzibu Azaala Mpanga — tying political authority to ancestry, memory, and continuity.