Mike Labongo, age 32, wanted to be a dentist and had ambitions to move to south to the capital city, Kampala, to receive an education. In 1990, when Mike was 16, his parents passed away, and he moved in with his uncle who lived in Jinja. Jinja is at the lip of Lake Victoria, and the mouth of the mighty Nile River. It is also one of Uganda’s largest artist havens, partly due to its diverse community and its popularity among tourists.

Mike remembers:

“After failing to raise fees for school I discovered I had this talent at art. Well, the fees for art school were slightly lower, so I made a few paintings and sold them off. After some time I raised the fees for art school. Every time I became free I would run to the gallery and paint until I paid for school.” And so, in 1998, Mike graduated from Nkumba University in Entebbe, married his wife, Innocent, in 2003 and now runs a workshop where he teaches others his skills.

His lessons include, “keep coming up with new work each time to surprise the people.” His definition of art is practical, “to me, art is a living. To others, art is what you make it”. And his motivation for painting - to understand the world around him - is common to us all. “When I look at something, I just want to change it, to simplify it,” Mike says.