Mutuba Interdisciplinary Art

MUTUBA
A Journey Through Transformation
Lubugo, also known as bark cloth, is one of Uganda’s oldest and most significant textile traditions. Made from the inner bark of the Mutuba tree (Ficus natalensis), its production is a labour-intensive process that has been passed down through generations. Harvested during the wet season, the bark is softened through boiling and pounded with wooden mallets to stretch and fuse its fibres. The raw organic material is transformed into a supple, non-woven textile, used in traditional ceremonies, clothing, bedding and home décor.
The process itself speaks to both vulnerability and resilience—once stripped of its bark, the Mutuba tree is left exposed and fragile, requiring careful wrapping in banana leaves to heal and regenerate. This cyclical act of harvesting and renewal embodies an enduring sustainability that is deeply embedded in the tradition, ensuring that the tree continues to provide for future generations. The making of Lubugo is not merely a craft but an ecological and cultural dialogue between humans and nature, a testament to practices that sustain both material and community.
This exhibition brings together film, live performance, photography and material artefacts to consider the layered significance of bark cloth. The objects presented trace the transformation from tree to textile, revealing the material’s role in both ceremonial and everyday life. The accompanying film, shot in Uganda, captures the physicality of the process, the skilled labour of the makers, and the surrounding landscape, situating bark cloth within its broader ecological and cultural context.
At the heart of the exhibition is a performance by Antonio Bukhar, whose movement-based practice extends the themes of transformation, endurance, and tradition into the realm of the body. Through his choreography, the physical gestures of making—stripping, boiling, pounding, and stretching—are reinterpreted as a metaphor for resilience, both human and material. His performance asks us to consider the labour behind the object, the rhythm of creation, and the ways in which cultural practices are embodied and carried forward.
As you move through the exhibition, we invite you to reflect on the intersections between tradition and innovation, material and body, loss and regeneration. How does a textile carry the weight of history? What does it mean to sustain a practice in an era of rapid material consumption? How do the processes of making, shape our understanding of resilience?

ANTONIO BUKHAR
Antonio Bukhar Ssebuuma is an acclaimed interdisciplinary artist from Uganda and a lecturer at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds. His practice blends hip-hop, Afro-fusion, and traditional Ugandan dance, engaging with themes of identity, movement, and material culture. His work spans performance, choreography, and community engagement, with artistic projects reaching across four continents.