About Face of Black

Face of Black is an initiative started in 2017 that places in the spotlight Ugandan creatives whose works speak of their cultural heritage. It’s curator in chief is Godwin Ochieng, a young Ugandan student of Architecture with a love for nature and cooking. Interesting as that combo may be, Ochieng has made it clear he is not vegan. Ochieng is a proud Acholi, a tribe that settled in Northern Uganda and South Sudan.

Uganda is by far, the world’s most ethnically diverse country. This means people and cultures not just live side by side – but coexist and mingle. This forms a mosaic made of people and heritage.

Yet Uganda’s socio-political history is rife with tribal division – witnessed in civil wars and tribalism. Face of Black’s mission is to remind Ugandans that our cultural differences can be tools for unity – not division. And what better way to do that than through art and design?

Face of Black envisions a world whose citizens celebrate their differences as a tool for peace and unity – not as weapons of war. Uganda is just a starting point. If the people of the earth’s most diverse country can be united by their differences, surely the whole world can.