An initially temporary structure that has now lasted over 100 years, Nakasero Market may be  most honest and quintessential love-letter to and about Kampala.

The market was started in 1895, at first at the Lubiri. In 1905, Nakasero Market moved to Kagugube which was initially a temporary structure, where it has been shaping lives, collecting stories and becoming a central part of the city since. Nakasero market doesn’t just represent the city, but has also shaped it and holds much of Kampala’s history in its life.

The Uganda Museum was set up in the early 20th century and moved over the years from Lugard’s Ford in Old Kampala, to Makerere University and landed on its current site along Kira Road in the 1950s. Museums are always set up from a certain vantage point in which, ideas – political, cultural, narrative and otherwise – shape decisions around what is worth showing and how to show it. The current displays of the museum hold a load of information and point to such political ideas and how they developed over time.

For every front-facing building in Kampala, there seems to be an other secret, hidden place behind it where people make business and lives together.

This August, we found a particularly special one – a three storey high secret courtyard with beautiful street lamps and a small collection of uniquely curious statues inside it. This is the home of our opening night. Located on the corner of Kampala Road and Station Approach, right outside the train station in the city. You would never guess that you’ve walked by this slice of beauty every day without seeing it peak out at you behind an inconspicuous chicken-joint.

Kiyembe road takes its name from the trees that used to surround it. Under these trees tailors and others would make for their customers, with each other and eventually built a sense of community in this shared space. Over time, trees have made way for multi-floor buildings, and now only the shade from  falls on the tables of those working below. It is a place of commerce, once also a place of community, right in the heart of our city.

One could argue that informal settlements are a direct, progressional and improvised response of citizens to their city and their needs. Why they are they surpressed, underserved and kept off important official records? Impossible to ignore. Katanga is home to a wide range of people whose need for real infrastructure continue to grow.

Some of our graffiti crew artists have been working with Katanga to understand how they want to see their neighborhood grow, and how beautification of their places has immediate impact on the quality of their lives. Katanga itself is located between Mulago Hospital and Makerere University, both who claim that this huge swampy chunk of land is theirs, turning it effectively into no-man’s land.

With most of Kampala’s traffic in the city actually moving on foot, alleyways and small passages are key to our lives in the city. Kampala Road, a bustling centre of knock off-phones, delicious food and endless bodies moving up and down searching for sente, connects to many others. Join us in Marvin’s Phone services alleyway between Kampala road and Wilson road for a fresh way to experience the city and the exhibition of some of our artists’ work.

Ham Mukasa is “The scholar who never went to school”. A maverick in his own right, he shaped Uganda’s history at a critical time that the British were entering. Unknown to many in Kampala, his family still preserved his house in Kampala, just off Kabaka Njagala Road. With it’s large balcony, huge beautiful garden and original furniture from Ham Mukasa’s days in the early 1900s, it’s hard to believe that such a historical gem is right in the middle of our city.