Corrigendum

African Arts, Winter, 2004

Notes inadvertantly omitted from Elsbeth Court's dialogue in the Summer 2004 issue.

I acknowledge with deep gratitude the contributions of Johanna Agthe and John Picton in the preparation of these comments.

1. As the first attempt at a systematic study of Katarikawe, the catalogue Dreaming in Pictures can only offer a tentative framework, though one which employs experimental approaches. These include (i) the use of several disciplines: anthropology, art history, cultural psychology, design; (ii) close involvement with the artist in the research process through his extensive personal archives and his advice to us on chronology and sources (only partially completed); (iii) the publication of his stories with only slight editing; (iv) a strong interface between the catalogue and exhibition, which was planned and executed with imagination and skill by designer Bettina Kubanek (who in 2002 visited Kigezi, where she experienced social puzzlement like Beidelman [2003:5]); and (v) dual language text. The key elements of corrective revision are to restore the essential nature of the artist's stories (disregarded by Gallery Watatu) and to demonstrate the regional quality of his art.

Nearly half of the catalogue consists of images of paintings in the exhibition and their relevant stories as retold by the artist in his English (his choice rather than translation from Swahili); a third consists of factual information about Katarikawe's life, exhibitions, and bibliography; and about a fifth is an essay which addresses the regional and particular contexts for Katarikawe vis-a-vis the development of his art practice. Complementing the exhibition, the catalogue emphasizes the early part of his career and covers other phases less fully. Already in 1991, many examples of his mid-career work had been exhibited in Frankfurt in "Zeitzeichen/Signs of the Time" (Museum f. Volkerkunde 1991). The authors consider Katarikawe's peak phase to be from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s, which is scarcely documented in Anglophone research.

2. From my impressions and discussions at Katarikawe exhibitions in Nairobi and Frankfurt; unpublished data from a protocol on stylistic preference for the representation of cattle that compared paintings by Katarikawe, Ancent Sol, and Timothy Brooke in three communities in Kenya with seventy-five subjects, who mostly preferred the orderly and colourful cows of Sol.

3. My first face-to-face encounter with Katarikawe in 1982 was at the preview for his "re-settlement" solo show at the French Cultural Center; it was opened by Professor David Rubadiri, poet, diplomat, educator, Katarikawe's old friend from Makerere, now vice chancellor of Malawi University. Without reference in the show's documentation, I had recalled incorrectly the guest had been the then vice president and arts advocate (now President) Mwai Kibaki, whom Katarikawe informed me had officiated at a subsequent occasion for the NGO Freedom from Hunger Competition; Katarikawe's Mother Earth/ Mama Dunia (also Africa Mona Lisa; Agthe and Court 2001: 107; collection E Krystall) received first prize (Jak Katarikawe, telephone interview, January 22, 2004).

References cited

Agthe, J., and E. Court. 2001. Bilder aus Traeumen/Dreaming in Pictures: Jak Katarikawe (Uganda). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Museum der Weltkulturen. www.katarikawe 02-03exhibition.info.

Arnoldi, M., C. Kreamer, and M. Mason. 2001. "Reflections on 'African Voices' at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History." African Arts 34, 2:16-35.

Beidelman, T.O. 1997. The Cool Knife: imagery of Gender, Sexuality and Moral Education in Kaguru Initiation Ritual. Washington, DC: Smithsonian institution Press.

--. 2003. "Dialogue: Jak Katarikawe." African Arts 36, 2:5.

Court, E. 1984. "Exhibition of Traditional and Contemporary Gourds." African Arts 17, 4:82.

--. 1999. "Africa on Display: Exhibiting Art by Africans." in Contemporary Cultures of Display, E. Barker, ed. London: Yale and Open University Press.

Deliss, Clementine, ed. Seven Stories About Modern Art in Africa. 1995. London: Whitechapel Art Gallery.

Kasfir, S. 2002. "Katarikawe Dreaming: Notes on a Retrospective." African Arts 35, 4:74-77.

--. 1981. Review of Art from Africa. African Arts 14, 4:7643. Museum fur Volkerkunde. 1991. Mit Pinsel und Meibel: Zeitgenossische Afrikanische Kunst. Catalogue. Frankfurt am Main: Museum fur Volkerkunde.

Njami, S. 2000. El Tiempo de Africa. Catalogue. Las Palmas: Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno.

Povey, J. 1974. "First Word." African Arts 7, 4.