Sheila Nakitende
Sheila Nakitende (born in 1983) is a Ugandan visual artist who lives and works in Kampala. Her work focuses on shaping conversations around womanhood, cultural memory, and material heritage. Her creative work reflects a deep interest in how women nurture, protect, and pass on aesthetic traditions, as well as how these practices evolve under modern pressures and social change. Through her art, she documents both personal and collective histories, ensuring that the stories embedded in everyday materials and rituals are not forgotten.
Education and career
Sheila Nakitende earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Fine Art and Design at Makerere University in 2005. Though her journey began as a painter, her curiosity led her to experiment with installation and performance, allowing her to build artistic works that speak to emotion, memory, and identity.
Exhibitions
Her work has been showcased in different platforms such as the Kampala Art Biennale and the Kampala Art Auction in 2016. In 2017, she received the Parent Residency Grant at the Women’s Studio Workshop in New York, an opportunity that increased her artistic reach.
Her solo exhibitions have been staged in Kampala, New York, and Makerere University, while her collaborative and international presence includes exhibitions in Geneva and presentations at art fairs in Paris. In 2022, her work was featured in group exhibitions in Berlin and Nairobi.
Her exhibitions have also travelled across borders, with shows in Kenya, Congo, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Belgium, and the United States .
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