Amanda Tumusiime

This study proposes that patriarchal perceptions have continued to influence the kinds of images through which women are represented in Ugandan art. This argument is well supported by evidence from visual art as well as from other sources of popular culture. This proposed study intends to show how African women in general and Ugandan women in particular are 'othered' in cultural discourse authored by men and expressed through the medium of art. Such images of women in Ugandan art serve a political purpose, the most important being to silence the voices of women. On the other hand, the study will articulate that despite their small number Ugandan profession women artists, who are formally trained, see themselves as new woman by virtue of their tertiary education and professional practice. These ‘new’ women are able to articulate different visual representations from those formed by men, thus epitomising unrelenting resistance to patriarchal oppression.