PATRICK SERUWU "THERE'S ONE MEMORY OF US"
Medium : Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Size : 2300mm (width) X 1520mm (height) (unframed)
Price : POA
Seruwu’s works carry the strength of women, acknowledging and honouring
the powerful characteristics he sees in his mother who raised him.
Seruwu allows the paint to drip as a metaphor, not only for the women’s’ tears of sadness, but also to celebrate their tears of joy and success. The portraits take on the shape of busts, which idolises eternal youth and the strength of ancient Roman and Greek statues - standing proud like pillars of strength. The colour palette of sepia and pink is a reflection of time required for healing. It is a representation of womanhood and passing time as in the colour of old photographs or that of ageing and rusted material.
Patrick Seruwu is a Ugandan born artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
He has been an art enthusiast since childhood partaking in community art competitions. Years later he relocated to South Africa where he was fortunate to meet Benon Lutaya who mentored him artistically until his passing. Patrick uses his art to express his experiences growing up as the only boy in the family of four raised by a single mother, and how it affected him. He channels those hardships into his work.
His mother raised him and his three sisters under tough circumstances. He was forced to drop out of school. His mother never the less provided for her family by being a street vendor. He then too became a street vendor when he first arrived in Johannesburg, while working as a hair stylist.
Patrick never intended to become an artist, but he was influenced by a close friend of his, the late Benon Lutaaya. He was an artist and Patrick spent more time with him, visiting him in his studio, attending art exhibitions. Art then became more appealing as a career.
As a self-taught working artist, his work has been well received in art community.
He uses charcoal, and acrylic paint on canvas applied in the form of a wash.
The washes signify the harsh truths that women have to continually wash away to forget daily experiences they undergo in order to move on.
Patrick has been engaging with painting and drawing for the past two years. His work has been featured in group and Corporate exhibitions such as aftermath at RMB Bank, Absa Bank gallery, Turbine Art Fair, Investec Cape Town Art Fair etc.
PATRICK SERUWU
"My work is about the strength of women, capturing moments of their daily lives. In a special way, it acknowledges the different attributes I always see in my mother.”
