Acaye Kerunen

Pamela Elizabeth Acaye Kerunen is a multi-disciplinary artist with whom curtains have rolled for in theatre while acting, performing poetry and she’s done journalism as well with which she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication from the Islamic University in Uganda back in 2009. Vogue Italia Magazine in June 2012 featured her as one of the social activists in Africa to look out for.

Acaye Kerunen’s process as a socially engaged artist foregrounds the work of local and regional Ugandan craftswomen, celebrating them as integral collaborators and elevating the artistic practices of local artisans who are the gatekeepers of their local wetlands, drawing upon a sacred and unspoken knowledge of ecological stewardship. By deconstructing utilitarian materials and artisan crafts, Kerunen repositions the work in order to tell new stories and posit new meaning. The act of re-installing these deconstructed materials is a response to the agency of women’s work in Africa and an acknowledgment of the role that this artistic labor plays in the climate ecosystem.