The Kaddu Wasswa Archive: A Visual Biography
Andrea Stultiens, Kaddu Wasswa John and Arthur C.Kisitu.
Post Editions
English
Hardcover
256 Pages
172 x 237 mm
2010
ISBN 9789460830297
The Kaddu Wasswa Archive by photographer Andrea Stultiens is the visual biography of Ugandan Kaddu Wasswa, born in 1933, who played an important role in his community as a teacher and social worker. What is exceptional about the now 77-year old Wasswa is that he has always documented his activities. He wrote novels, plays and essays, took photographs and collected photos. Additionally, his extensive archive contains letters and newspaper clippings, often with added commentary.
Andrea Stultiens met Kaddu Wasswa in 2008 through his grandson, photographer Arthur C. Kisitu. Together, Stultiens and Kisitu set out to explore Wasswa’s archive. She took photographs of the documents to which she added her and Kisitu’s own photos which were taken during their meetings. The result is a unique biography in which the author is personally visible as well.
Kaddu Wasswa started his archive in the period when Uganda was seeking independence from Great Britain, its coloniser. The many photos in the archive present a fascinating view of the country Uganda and its inhabitants during the first fifty years of independence, which will be commemorated in 2012. The Kaddu Wasswa Archive preserves the history of a man and tells the story of a country.
About the Artists
Andrea Stultiens initially trained as a photographer (BFA, MFA, MA) at several universities in the Netherlands, he finalised a PhD ‘in and through the arts’ at Leiden University in November 2018. Now he uses his artistic practice as a research method to activate informal and formal ‘archives’ in order to investigate the historical and contemporary ‘image’ of particular realities on the African continent and the photographic practices that ‘made them’. The actions that are part of his practice range from producing and distributing photographs to initiating various modes of collective making, and discursive writing.
andreastultiens.nl
(source: https://www.andreastultiens.nl/things-i-do-with-photographs/)
Kaddu Wasswa always documented his activities. He wrote novels, plays and essays, took photographs and collected photos. Additionally, his extensive archive contains letters and newspaper clippings, often with added commentary.
Arthur C. Kisitu is an International artist/photographer from Uganda and the grandson of Kaddu Wasswa.
(source: https://www.1854.photography/tag/arthur-c-kisitu/)
About the Publisher
Post Editions was an independent publisher based in Rotterdam dedicated to the task of initiating, producing and distributing special books on contemporary art, architecture and photography.
(source: https://www.fkawdw.nl/en/about_us/network/post_editions)
