Odur Ronald, né en 1992 en Ouganda, est un artiste visuel multidisciplinaire. Il obtient un diplôme en design d’intérieur à l’Université de Kyambogo en 2017. Il utilise principalement des plaques d’impression en aluminium en explorant ses possibilités. Ayant grandi près de la plus grande communauté de marchands de ferraille à Katwe, une banlieue de Kampala, en Ouganda, l’attachement de Ronald Odur à l’aluminium remonte à son enfance. Il revendait de la ferraille pour acquérir des jouets, une expérience qui a influencé et façonné la nature de sa pratique d’artiste contemporain.
Il aborde ses idées sous différents angles qui peuvent se révéler sous forme de sculptures, d’installations, de peintures et de performances. Dans son travail, il exprime avec vivacité les thèmes et les récits dans la complexité des interactions sociopolitiques et leur influence dans le monde contemporain. Il y évoque les questions contemporaines de pouvoir, de mouvement, d’accès, d’appartenance et de personnalité.
Son travail a été exposé dans divers événements artistiques, notamment la Biennale d’art de Kampala organisée par Simon Njami (2018), The East African Biennale en Tanzanie (2019), ainsi que dans des expositions collectives telles que “(Im)perfections” à la galerie Afriart (2020) et “Our Africa Our Future” au siège de l’Union africaine, Addis-Abeba, Éthiopie. Ronald Odur a remporté le Mukumbya Musoke Art Prize 2020 et le Prince Claus Seed Award 2020. Il a également reçu une mention honorable pour l’Alpine Fellowship Art Prize 2022 au Royaume-Uni.
Odur Ronald (b.1992) is a multi-disciplinary visual artist. He mainly uses aluminum printing plates by exploring its possibilities, one technique at a time by not only painting on the aluminum sheets, but also dents, burns, layers, stitches and weaves the shiny metal thus achieving texture, color, shape and character.
He seeks to tackle his ideas from different vantage points that may reveal themselves as sculptures, installations, paintings and performance. In his work, He vividly expresses the themes and narratives in the complexities of social-political interactions and their influence in the contemporary world. His work addresses contemporary issues of power, movement, access, belonging and personhood.
Growing up near the biggest scrap dealing community in Katwe one of the suburbs of Kampala, Uganda, Odur’s attachment to aluminum dates back to his scrap collecting childhood days that fetched him some money to acquire toys for himself, an experience that has clearly influenced and shaped the nature of his practice as a contemporary artist.
The material has been part of him though serving a different purpose rather than creating art from a means to earn a little extra money as a child, a platform of self-expression was brought to life.
Odur graduated in interior design at Kyambogo University, Uganda in 2017. His work has been featured and shown in several group exhibitions such as The Kampala Art Biennale curated by Simon Njami (2018), The Last Image Show “The Silence” Tanzania and Zambia, (2018), The East African Biennale, Tanzania (2019), (Im)perfections, a duo exhibition, Afriart Gallery (2020), East Meets East, The New Gallery, CoCuDI Center, Jerusalem (2020), The collector’s collection exhibition, Motiv (2021), KLA ART 21, 32° East Ugandan Art Trust (2021), Where The Wild Things Are, Afriart Gallery (2021) Our Africa Our Future exhibition, African Union Headquarters, Addis Ababa Ethiopia. 14th Kaunas biennale, Latvia 2023, silent invasions, Amasaka art gallery, Uganda, The Republic of This and That solo exhibition, Afropocene capsule, (2023), welcome to the UK, Ugly Duck, London, (2024), Beyond sculpture, Afriart Gallery,(2024), 60th Venice biennale, Uganda pavilion, Italy (2024), Uganda.
He is the winner of the Mukumbya Musoke Art Prize 2020 and one of the recipients of the Prince Claus Seed Award 2020, one of the short-listed artists and received an honorable mention for the Alpine fellowship Art Prize 2022, UK. He has been part of an Art residency by 32° East Ugandan Art Trust at Centre Soleil d’Afrique Mali, (2020), Silhouette project art residency at Afriart Gallery, (2020) and The African Union art residency at Loman Art, Dakar Senegal (2022), Gasworks, London, UK, (2024).