This soft sculpture by Ugandan artist Sanaa Gateja is representative of his practice in which the use of waste material plays a major role, as well as the notions of crafmanship and of community. The work has a haptic, textile-like quality with a sophisticated visual composition that expresses movement, vibration and lushness.
It is made of hundreds of conical paper "beads" made by hand collaboratively in the Studio from reclaiming old magazines, newspaper, or pamphlets. The beads are tinted, then are stitched onto "lubugo", a traditional fabric that derives from the bark of a local ficus tree and refers to ancient spiritual rites. The artist uses acrylic paint to finalise the work.
"Ripe and Ready" is part of a series of works in which the artist plays around the classic motif of the tree, reinventing its artistic treatment. Created from industrial (paper) and crafty (lubugo) man-made materials that are made from what it represents, the motif of the tree is an allegory of regeneration refering to the spiritual realm, as well as to the "here and now' of the notion of circular economy.